Adventures
by Moonprincess92
Summary: Every weekend they would go on an adventure. "The mer-people have stolen the most important thing in the world to you. What did they take?"   "… you." :RHr takes place during an AU postDH:
1. Adventure on your doorstep

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Ron, Hermione or adventures. I don't even own the format or the plot. That belongs to ProfessorSpork. Pretty much, nothing is mine.

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><p>Adventures.<p>

Blurb …

Every weekend they would go on an adventure. "The mer-people have stolen the most important thing in the world to you. What did they take?" "… you." :RHr takes place during an AU postDH:

**Note:** This story takes place in an AU after the end of the war. _Ron never met Hermione and Harry_ on that first day of Hogwarts and was never friends with them. Voldemort took over, but Harry and Hermione never went through the crazy adventures they went on in the books. There was a final battle, but no Horcruxes to destroy, Philosopher's Stone to save, Basilisk to fight, Time-travel, Triwizard Tournament, Battle at the Ministry, or getting the locket. Just Voldemort to kill. All in all, a rather boring version of HP that takes a really long while.

This takes place the summer after the war ended.

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><p><em>This story is dedicated to Emily and Catie, simply because they are my awesome family. Love you guys. xox <em>

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><p><em>Part One: Adventure on your doorstep<em>

Ron snorted at the sight of her.

The girl was sat, legs stretched out in the middle of the aisle between bookshelves, a large book propped open on her knees. With one hand holding open the book and the other fisted in her hair, she looked so comfortable that Ron almost didn't want to disturb her.

Almost.

"Y'know you're supposed to buy the books before reading them," he said, startling her. "You might want to try a library …?"

The girl's head snapped up. "Yes – no – I'm sorry!" The girl heaved herself quickly upright, carrying the book with her. "I was going to buy it, I just wanted to read the first page first and – well … I got distracted …"

"I can tell," he answered, though he grinned. "My boss sent me over here to either make you buy the book or kick you out."

"I'm so sorry!" she said again, biting her lip. "I'll buy it, I was going to anyway!"

Ron almost laughed at her expression, but he had a feeling that she wouldn't appreciate that. Instead, he just sold the book to her and watched as she left Flourish and Blotts for Diagon Alley.

He wondered why she looked so familiar.

* * *

><p>Exactly a week later, he saw her again.<p>

This time, she was standing at the back of Flourish and Blotts, reading a comic book, _The Adventures of Amelia the Animagus_.

"Excuse me, what did I tell you about reading in the store?" he said before she jumped, turned and saw him. This time, she was the one who grinned.

"Had to pick up this one," she said, gesturing. "Best comic book out there."

Ron found himself blinking. "You're not serious?" he said, scoffing at her. "_Amelia the Animagus_?"

"What's wrong with Amelia? It _is_!" she countered.

Ron simply snorted at that. "Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle," he said, picking up a bright orange comic from the stand in front of them. "Now _that_ there is the best comic book in the world."

The girl raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really?" she said, folding her arms. "Please explain to me _how_ a comic book about a Muggle getting into crazy situations and always having to be saved by a wizard is a good story?"

Ron gaped for a few moments. "Er … it just is?"

"Oh, brilliant argument!" she said, sarcastically. "_'It just is'_, I applaud you on that."

"Congratulations, that was an excellent display of sarcasm, my sister didn't happen to teach you, did she?" Ron asked.

"Oh ha, ha," The girl rolled her eyes. "I'll have you know that I've always been gifted in the art of sarcasm. Not that I don't _love_ having to explain this to a bloke working in a bookshop."

"Oi!" Ron countered. When all the girl did was smirk at him, he continued. "All right, fine – why out of all comics, is Amelia the Animagus the best one?"

"Because," The girl shrugged. "She's a hero. She saves the world."

"Martin saves the world!"

"No, '_Martin_' goes waltzing into trouble, causing a catastrophe which allows a _wizard_ to save the world," The girl pointed out. "Amelia on the other hand, she's headstrong, does what she needs to do! She might be a witch, but she doesn't always rely on magic to fix her mistakes!"

"Bloody hell, you don't happen to be Muggle-born, do you?" Ron asked without thinking. Almost immediately, he saw the implications of such a comment on the girl's face as her smile dropped completely. "Sorry," He muttered. "I guess I don't think – forget that we've just been through a war."

"It's all right," she said, quietly. "And yes, I am Muggle-born. My name's Hermione, by the way."

"Hermione!" Ron slapped his forehead. "Of course! _That's_ why you looked so familiar!"

"Pardon?"

"The first time you were in here, I was so sure I recognised you!" Ron said, now excited. "You were in my class at Hogwarts – holy Merlin, you're Hermione Granger, aren't you? Harry Potter's best mate?"

Just like his stupid Muggle-born comment, he could tell that simply by his enthusiasm he'd managed to piss her off again. _Merlin Ron, can you stick your foot any further into your mouth_, he thought, as her face went stony.

"I'll have you know that I don't just go by '_Harry Potter's best mate_'," she said, scowling. "So if all you're interested in is meeting Harry or some other stupid famous thing, then you've got another thing coming."

And she turned around and stormed off up the aisle.

"No, hang on–!" Ron thanked his genes that he had long legs, since he was able to catch up to her in two strides. Grabbing her wrist holding the comic, he pulled her to a halt. "Look I'm sorry, I'm not just interested in you because you happened to save the entire world – thanks for that, by the way –" he added and he saw her eyebrows raise slightly. "I _am_ however interested in your taste in comic books. I just happen to have no filter between my brain and my mouth. Sorry about that."

Hermione gave a slight smile before tugging her wrist back. "Well, that's slightly better. I'm sorry, I tend to leap to conclusions, especially since this war ended." They both went silent at that. The war only ended a month ago.

"Either way, what was your name?" she asked, eventually.

"Oh of course, the famous Hermione Granger can't remember the name of that red-haired kid that sat at the back of the classroom." Ron said, though he made sure to grin so she'd know he was joking. He had an inkling that he didn't want to face the wrath of Hermione Granger yet again.

"That's not fair, I told you my name!" Hermione said, frowning.

"Ah, it doesn't matter, it's not like you could guess."

"Oh, really?" Hermione eyed him now, the two still standing in the middle of an aisle at Flourish and Blotts. Outside, Diagon Alley was shining like it should during the summer. It was as if there had been no war at all. "Well, judging by the fact that you like really mediocre comic books, have red hair and work in a book shop … no, I'm sorry," She gave an apologetic smile. "Most people remember me as the girl who knows everything, but I'm afraid I can't figure this one out."

"C'mon, think like Amelia!" Ron said, not really sure why he was still prattling on like an idiot to this girl. Partly it was just to get out of working, but there was another part where he secretly thought it was because she was so _interesting_. She was nothing like any other girl he'd met. "What would she do?"

Hermione gave him a look. "I'm afraid I can't turn into a cat at will."

"Well yes, though I'm sure you'd make a very nice cat – all furry, a tail, but no hairballs – but that's not all Amelia would do, is it?"

"Meaning?"

"Well, like you said, she's a hero," Ron said, shrugging. "She wouldn't just sit around licking her paws, she'd get out there, find out the answer."

"You're not admitting that you've actually read the comics before, are you?" Hermione asked, almost laughing.

"Oh well …" Ron felt his ears turning red. "My sister liked to read them when we were younger. Sometimes I would, er pick them up …"

"Of course, only when you were bored, right?" Hermione said. "Well all right, I'll think like Amelia – only without the whole turning into a cat."

"Nah, save that for a Polyjuice Potion gone wrong or something."

Hermione sighed, exasperatedly. "Does _no one_ pay attention in potions class? Polyjuice potion does not work on non-humans!"

Ron couldn't believe how happy he was when his boss sent him on his break early.

* * *

><p>"Right, so you admit that there's a clue here in Diagon Alley?" Hermione asked as they strolled down the street. Being a Saturday, Diagon Alley was completely full of people and they often found themselves getting bumped into each other. At one point, Hermione took his hand to lead him through a particularly large group of witches cooing over a new litter of Krups at the Menagerie and Ron found himself disappointed when she let go on the other side.<p>

"Yes, definitely," he said. "You know, I'm starting to get offended that you don't remember my name."

"Oh, that's not fair, you hardily said a word at Hogwarts!" Hermione told him, clutching the comic Ron had bought for her with his employee discount tightly to her chest.

"So you admit that you remember me?"

"Well, 'remember' is a bit of a stretch," she said with another apologetic look. "I have to admit, Harry and I kept to ourselves a bit. Got to save the world, remember."

"Yeah, but you didn't _have_ to," Ron said to her. "That was just Harry, you didn't have to follow him."

"I didn't _follow_ him, I was his friend!" she disagreed. "You can't just abandon your friends! I'm sure _you_ never did!"

"I never really had many friends, to be honest." Ron admitted, taking care to stare at the ground.

He could feel Hermione looking at him and when he finally did look up, he saw her giving him a gentle smile. "Ron, I'm sure you have friends."

"Well, I do now – hang on, _Ron_?" he said, in shock. "How'd you figure out what my name was?"

Hermione laughed at that. "I've never seen someone's ears go that shade of red before," she pointed out and if possible, his ears went even darker. "And you led me straight to Weasley's Wizards Wheezes. Plus it helps that you forgot to take your name-badge off when you started this little game of yours."

Ron glanced down, not believing he'd been so stupid. "Ah. Shit. Guess I'm an idiot."

"You're not an idiot, you just need to remember take your name-badge off next time you try and make someone guess your name." Hermione laughed.

Ron laughed with her, despite feeling like his ears weren't going to calm down any time soon. "Well, I suppose Amelia's figured it out," he said. "What does she do now?"

Hermione smiled. "Save the world?"

They spent the rest of that Saturday running around Diagon Alley, coming up with elaborate plots as to how Amelia finding out a name would mean she needed to save the world. It ended when Ron realised that he was half an hour late for his break. He bid her goodbye with a half-hearted, "Send me an owl!"

He paused just as he was hurrying back to Flourish and Blotts. "So wait, in this amazing plot of yours, Amelia hears his name and knows that Ewan is somewhere in the castle, just waiting for her to rescue him?"

"Yes, but it doesn't go according to plan. They could have all been killed – or worse, expelled!"

He grinned.

* * *

><p>The third time he met her, Ron couldn't believe it.<p>

He didn't really believe he would see her again, or that she would actually send him an owl – what owl would be able to find the Burrow anyway, if it wasn't already familiar with it? He thought that if he ever _did_ see her again, it would be with embarrassment that they ran laughing through Diagon Alley like a couple of 11-year-olds during their first adventure.

He saw her at Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour.

"Hermione–!"

"Ron!" She had flung her arms around his neck seemingly before she realised what she was doing. Or well, Ron hoped that was the case since his ever-nosy little sister was standing right next to him with a stunned expression. "It's good to see you!" Hermione added.

"Good to see you too." he muttered, ears going red again. This of course got Ginny's attention even more.

"Didn't tell me you'd met a girl, Ron," she said, smirking. "Where were you hiding this one?"

"No where." he muttered again. To his horror, Ginny introduced herself to Hermione and the two began chattering away.

"I think I remember you, you were in Dumbledore's Army, right?"

"Of course, kept it going all last year," Ginny said, her face sobering. "I know you of course, famous Hermione Granger."

Remembering his second meeting with her, Ron eyed Hermione's face with caution. "Er Ginny, remember that the famous are people too," he said. "It's not like she, I dunno, went back in time and fought a werewolf or something."

Both girls just turned to stare at him.

He shrugged. "What? It could happen."

Hermione gave him a bemused look. "Well, you might find, Ron that the truth isn't as strange as you originally think."

"Oh, really?"

"Oh yes, Amelia says so. In fact I just bought issue number twenty two–?"

"The one where Ewan sacrifices himself so Amelia can go on ahead?"

Hermione nodded eagerly. "That's it – it's absolutely brilliant! See, I told you that Amelia was the best hero ever."

Ron scoffed. "Oh please, she wasn't the hero, Ewan was the one who saved the day! Amelia would've died if it wasn't for him!"

"Well without her, there wouldn't have _been_ an adventure, would there?"

Ginny just eyed the two with an amazed look. "Wow. Well, bye Ron, I can tell I won't be seeing you for a while," was all she said before leaving the ice cream parlour, past several bins of different flavours of ice cream. However she turned and added, "Be safe on that adventure – use protection!"

He was going to _kill_ his sister.

While Ron was busy trying to control his blushing, he didn't even notice when Ginny walked head-long into someone, causing her to go flying backwards and knocking over a little kid in the middle of scooping out ice cream from one of the bins.

However he did notice and laughed when her elbow went straight into the butter-flavoured ice cream and the man with crazy back hair laughed.

"I like your sister," Hermione said, smiling as she waved to the black-haired man. "She's got a certain charm."

He turned to Hermione. Enough about his sister. "So what was that about an adventure?"

* * *

><p>Their second adventure wasn't like the first. During this one, Ron learned that Hermione Granger was infuriating.<p>

Despite the fact that Ron was supposed to be having lunch with his sister, he spent the entire day with Hermione. They explored every inch of Diagon Alley, eating ice creams and arguing over who was the better hero – Amelia the Animagus, or Ewan the simple wizard.

Their adventure led to an elaborate plot about a series of traps the two had to fight.

"They're so fluffy!" Hermione said as they paused inside the menagerie. She was currently fawning over a brown, furry puppy Ron was sure wasn't as innocent as it looked. "My friend, Hagrid has a dog. His name's Fang. Still lovely, but not nearly as fluffy."

"_Fang_?" Ron asked, snorting with laughter. "Sounds like a crazy mutant dog with three heads."

"Oh no, Fang's a softie," Hermione said, still petting the puppy in front of her. "But a crazy, mutant three-headed dog? Now _that_ dog would be Fluffy …"

When they entered the apothecary, Ron got stuck when a stray plant wrapped its vines around his wrists.

"God, it's like Devil's Snare!" Hermione said, tugging at the vines, despite the fact that this soon proved to be useless. "They hold on tight and hate heat!"

"Then get a bloody fire going!"

"Oh, but there's no wood …" Hermione glanced around, trying to catch the eye of the manager.

"Wood–? Oh come on, are you a witch or not?"

Ron misplacing his keys and being unable to get into the backroom of Flourish and Blotts for his shift led to them discussing the pros of flying keys that would simply follow them around (_"That would be hard to catch …", "Not if you had a broom!"_).

She stuck around while he worked, half the time reading the books (he refrained himself from telling her off) and the other half irritating the hell out of him by tagging along after him, spouting off other aspects of their adventure, surrounded by the books (_"What if we had to read a certain book and only that book would allow us to move forward? Except you only get one choice!", "Are you hearing yourself? It sounds like you're being poisoned!"_). More than once he told her to shut it and he came to the conclusion that Hermione Ganger was the most annoying person he'd ever met.

However, when he finally finished his shift and she took his hand, leading them back to their adventure, he found that he'd never had a better day in his life.

That was how they spent the last few weeks of May.

They swapped addresses and Ron prayed that his stupid owl, Pig, would find her. She even gave him something she called a 'mobile number', but reassured him that he probably shouldn't use it unless he had to (he was relieved at that – he didn't see how a 'mobile' would allow them to talk without magic).

Their adventures became a tradition of sorts – Hermione would meet him at the end of his shift at Flourish and Blotts each Saturday before proceeding on an adventure that could lead them anywhere. Ron knew it was ridiculous and completely bizarre, but somehow he still found himself tagging along after Hermione and her plots (because no matter how hard he had argued this point, she was always going to be Amelia – _she_ was always going to be _his_ hero).

Ron knew that he was still trying to get over the effects of the war and he suspected that Hermione was the same. So they would don their old Hogwarts ties and pretend they were still young and innocent at school, looking for adventure.

Their adventures had no rhyme and reason. None at all.

But they continued.

They would eat ice-creams at Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour, discussing the pros and cons of the Accio charm. He would steal whichever book she happened to be reading and would make her answer a series of random questions to get it back. She would sigh exasperatedly every time he wouldn't do his job properly and would snort with laughter every time his boss would tell him off for talking to the customers. She would sit at the back of Flourish and Blotts, reading through the entire comic book shelf while he watched her with a bemused expression. He would drag her in and out of shops she couldn't care less about. She introduced him to Harry and sometimes, he would join them on their adventures. If it rained, they would spend the entire weekend curled up on her sofa, reading _The Adventures of Amelia the Animagus_.

It was the most fun Ron had ever had. He took her to the small wood around the orchard at the Burrow (though he took care to make sure that his mother was not home – he didn't need those sorts of questions just yet) and he had ended up with a minor concussion when he ran head-long into a tree branch, trying to get away from angry Centaurs.

"Times like these you need a car to come along and save us," Hermione had said, helping him sit up and trying not to laugh. "You know, to just drive on up and fly us out of here!"

Hermione took him to a small lake near her house, which ended in Ron throwing her into the water off the small jetty.

"_Ron_!" She had cried, head bursting from the water.

"Ah, you'll be right," he had called back as she climbed back up the ladder onto the jetty, now soaking wet. "If you fall in the Giant Squid will help you ou–!" He'd tried to duck out of the way, but she had been too quick for him and had tackled him into the water before he could finish.

And on every adventure, Ron found another way to irritate her.

"You're a nightmare sometimes Hermione, honestly!" He had said to her after he had made to levitate her sofa closer to the sun and only succeeding in setting it spectacularly on fire. She had (rather cruelly in his opinion) told him he'd pronounced the spell wrong, irritating him to no end.

"Oh really?" Hermione had rolled her eyes. "Well it's no wonder you haven't got any friends!"

Once, they'd had to sneak back into her house in the dead of the night, Hermione's parents not knowing she had left for that weekends adventure and got slightly carried away. Next second, they had glanced at the time and had motored it back, Ron needing to collect his jacket and arguing the entire way over whose fault it was.

"You know, I think I'll actually learn the Curse of the Bogies and use it on you." Ron had hissed at her once they got inside.

"Oh I'll show you how exactly to use the Curse of the Bogies!" Hermione had snapped back.

But despite the bickering, Ron found that he was having the best summer of his life and nothing changed.

Until they fought the troll.

* * *

><p>"So remind me how this one's going again?" Ron asked, ducking under a stray branch.<p>

They were in the woods again, a place they seemed to favour. It appeared that there were a lot of adventures that could happen in the woods.

"A troll has gotten out," Hermione answered. She was grinning in a rather evil, Hermione-like way and he narrowed his eyes. "And this time, I'm going to let _you_ be the hero."

Ron actually tripped over at that, not watching where he was going. "You're not serious?" he asked, eyes wide. Not once during all their adventures had Hermione let him be the hero.

"Honestly, boys!" she had once said during one of their adventures by the lake. "Always feel the need to play the hero!"

Now, however Hermione was still grinning. "Oh, you deserve it, I think," she said, grinning. "I've had to rescue you a fair few times. Now you're rescuing me!"

"Then run!" Ron yelled, not really sure what playing the hero meant. Their crazy situations always just seemed to play themselves out whenever Hermione was in charge. He wouldn't really know what to do when if it was _him_ in charge.

(Besides, he hardily ever was in charge and he liked it that way. He'd never admit it to her, but he thought it was kind of _hot_ when Hermione stepped up and became the leader, bossing him around).

So all they ended up doing was running through the woods, occasionally leaping over a log or snapping a branch out of the way.

"So how big is this troll?"

"You tell me, you're in charge!"

"Oh, I dunno …" Ron thought. "Big as a mountain troll?"

"But we're not in the mountains …"

"Hermione, there's no troll either."

She rolled her eyes at this as she took hold of a branch from a low hanging tree and swung herself up. He paused to watched her as she climbed into the tree. "That's not the point, Ron," she said. "This is an adventure and it's got to be realistic!"

"Hermione, _none_ of this is realistic …"

Hermione sighed exasperatedly from her branch in the tree. Ron noticed that she did that a lot, especially when she was around him – he found it kind of endearing. "Ron, we're both eighteen years old, wearing our old Hogwarts ties and running around a forest like a couple of First Years. Just save me from the troll!"

Ron just snorted before clambering into the tree next to hers. "You know, I think this troll might just be the start of a beautiful friendship, Hermione."

"Oh really, with who?"

"With me and you, of course!" he said, shrugging from his tree. "Today shall forever be marked as the day Hermione Granger let me be the hero. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other."

"What, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them?" Hermione asked.

"Ha! So _that's_ how big it is."

"Cheat," Hermione said, though Ron could hear the smile in her voice. "Besides, if _now_ we're friends, what on earth were we before?"

"More like casual acquaintances who went on adventures together."

Hermione rolled her eyes, or at least Ron assumed she did since he couldn't see her through the branches, just a flash of brown that was her hair (_the hair that was crazy and mad and he secretly sort of loved_).

"Ron …" Hermione's voice hesitated for a moment, then, "You … you were at Hogwarts this past year, during the height of the war, weren't you?"

Freezing at the change in subject, Ron wasn't quite sure how to speak for a moment. Finally, he un-stuck his throat. "Er, yeah …"

She paused for a long moment.

"… what was it like?" she eventually asked.

Ron paused rather like she had, staring hard through the branches as if she would see his questioning look. "Why the hell would you want to know that?"

"Because I wasn't there," Hermione said, her voice quiet. "I was too busy saving the world with Harry and sometimes, I wonder whether I should have … sometimes, I feel like I should've been there to save the school …"

"Hermione, whether you were there or not wouldn't have made a difference," Ron said, firmly. "You and Harry had a job to do. We were … well, not _fine_, but we managed. We started up Dumbledore's Army again. We fought against the Death Eaters. Besides," Ron added. "You would've been kicked out for being a Muggle-born."

"Very tactful, thanks."

"Ah, you know me," Ron grinned. "Besides, you would've hated it anyway – our NEWT exams were cancelled."

"Hey! I'll have you know tha–"

Hermione's voice cut off in a loud shriek which made Ron's blood run cold. He heard the branch snap and the scrapes and screams as Hermione fell. He heard the dull thud as Hermione hit the ground. Her scream cut off.

"HERMIONE!"

Thankful for all the traumatising times of his childhood where Fred and George would stick him in these trees and not help him down, Ron managed to make it to the ground in three seconds flat. In an instant, he was at Hermione's side.

"HERMIONE! HERMIONE!" he yelled, clutching her shoulder. She groaned groggily.

"Oh shut it, I'm right here …"

"Bloody hell, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" he yelled, feeling her neck for a pulse (even though it was obvious she was alive), feeling for her hand (though he knew it was still attached to her arm) and pretty much feeling for _anything_.

(Ron wasn't really sure when the feelings inside him had cropped up, but he knew that was why he was so bloody _terrified_ when he heard her scream).

Ron ended up throwing his arms around her, lifting her into a half-sitting position as they were both still on the ground. Hermione snorted as she wound her own arms around his neck. "I'm all right, Ron," she insisted. "C'mon, it's not like I nearly died or anything! I would've needed to be, I dunno locked in a bathroom or something for the troll to get me."

"Don't even joke." Ron muttered into her hair.

When eventually he let her go long enough to help her stand, they found that Hermione had sprained her ankle rather badly. Ron, who insisted that he was still the hero of this adventure, offered to carry Hermione back to the Burrow where his mother would be sure to fix her.

"Honestly, you don't need to, I'm perfectly capabl – _Ron_!" she yelped as he swung her easily into his arms.

"Times like these you need a house-elf." he joked, happily. He expected her to laugh – he was _not_ expecting a stormy, thunderous look.

"That is _not_ funny Ron, house-elves have rights too!" she practically yelled. "I've been trying for years to get people to listen, but _no_ so put me DOWN!"

"Bloody hell Hermione, you really are irritating!"

"I'll give _you_ irritating …" she practically growled and Ron was pretty sure she'd storm away if she he wasn't currently holding her. "Ron, I don't need you or any house-elf to help me walk, so put. Me. _DOWN_!"

"All right, all right!" he said, hastily setting her back onto her feet. She winced and Ron was pretty sure he heard a swear word or two be muttered under her breath (not that she'd admit it). She was so bloody stubborn. "Jesus, you'd think a Death Eater was torturing you!"

Hermione just stared stonily ahead, leaning heavily on Ron and she limped. "I just don't like people making derogatory comments about house-elves," she said, coldly. "I was friends with one who died in the war."

"I'm sorry," Ron murmured. Then in a louder voice, "Look Hermione, I didn't mean anything by it, it was a joke! I mean, if you ask me the house-elves got a bloody unfair deal during all the wars. I remember during the battle at Hogwarts …" They both shivered at that, the memory still raw. "There was one bloke who was insisting that they get out there, fighting for the castle! That had to be the most repulsive thing I'd ever heard, they were terrified! So I definitely told that bloke where to shove it – we didn't want even more people dying that day, did we?"

Ron wasn't sure what the hell was going through Hermione's head – she simply stopped in the middle of the path through the woods, staring at him in amazement. However, just as he opened his mouth to ask if she was all right, he suddenly found Hermione's lips on his.

He wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but either way he threw his arms around her and kissed her back with just as much force as she, so that he ended up lifting her up off the ground entirely. Her hands were gripping his hair and he could feel her smile as she continued to move her lips with his.

He sort of felt like he'd been hit on the back of the head with a Bludger.

"Is this the moment?" he asked her weakly when eventually, they pulled away. Hermione only grinned.

"There's no war going on here." she answered.

This time, _he_ kissed _her_.

* * *

><p>AN: So. Where the heck did this come from? Read a fanfiction in a completely different fandom with the same sort of format. That story is _Feeling Electric_ by ProfessorSpork in the Doctor Who fandom, who was kind enough to give me permission to use her original idea and plot. Once i read that story, i was completely inspired and couldn't _not_ do it for Ron and Hermione. I take no credit for coming up with the idea at all.

So yeah. This story will be in five parts, one which i shall post each week like i used to do with my updates. Currently on holiday from University, which is how i've managed to write this and get it up.

Hope you all enjoyed part one! I'd love to know what you think, so remember reviews are _always_ appreciated.

Until next time-

-Moon. : D


	2. Adventure to remember

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Ron, Hermione or adventures. I don't even own the format or the plot. Absolutely nothing is mine.

* * *

><p>Adventures.<p>

Blurb …

Every weekend they would go on an adventure. "The mer-people have stolen the most important thing in the world to you. What did they take?" "… you?" :RHr takes place during an AU postDH:

**Note:** This story takes place in an AU after the end of the war. _Ron never met Hermione and Harry_ on that first day for Hogwarts and was never friends with them. Voldemort took over, but Harry and Hermione never went through the crazy adventures they went on in the books. There was a final battle, but no Horcruxes to destroy, Philosopher's Stone to save, Basilisk to fight, Time-travel, Triwizard Tournament, Battle at the Ministry, or getting the locket. Just Voldemort to kill. All in all, a rather boring version of HP that takes a while.

This takes place the summer after the war ended.

* * *

><p><em>Part Two: Adventure to remember<em>

Summer continued.

Ron couldn't decide if anything had really changed or not – they still went on adventures every weekend and she was still the best hero he'd ever had. But now when she held his hand, fire sizzled up his arm. When they fought, tension burned.

"Come to have a good gloat?" he had snarled at her when, after blatantly denying to his mother that he was going out with anyone, Mrs Weasley had countered by saying that Hermione had already told her. "Or have you just been to tell on me?"

Hermione had rolled her eyes in disgust. "Honestly Ron, you'd think I'd done something horrible! What does it _matter_ if your Mum knows we're …?" She had trailed off, not really wanting to bring up the fact that they hadn't exactly confirmed anything official yet.

"Because!" Ron had gripped his hair, pacing back and forth in front of her. He hadn't intended on his mother running after him with his lunch, finally catching up with him in the Leaky Cauldron as he made his way to work and he certainly hadn't counted on Hermione turning up five seconds after his Mum chewed him out over not telling him about his life. There was a reason he hadn't told his mother about Hermione: she helped him forget about his crazy family and the brother that was no longer there. If she became a _part_ of his family … "Now she'll want to know everything! And I don't just mean _everything_, I mean EVERYTHING!"

"For Merlin's sake, she's just _interested_ in your life!" Hermione had yelled back.

"Well, sometimes I wish she bloody well wasn't!" he had said. "And sometimes I wish I had never bloody met you!"

"You don't _mean_ that!"

"Of COURSE I don't bloody well mean it!"

(And he had kissed her for good measure).

* * *

><p>About two weeks after this amazing change, Ron found himself hiding behind a dessert menu.<p>

"Er … Ron?" Hermione asked, eyeing him since he had just dived behind the menu as they sat outside a cosy café in Diagon Alley. "What are you doing?"

"Er, well …" Ron glanced over the top of his menu. Yes. She was still there. "Hermione, I don't want to alarm you, but turns out, my ex-girlfriend is apparently still a waitress here …"

Hermione glanced around and sure enough, Lavender Brown was taking an order a few tables over from them, wearing an apron and her blond hair pulled back. Hermione remembered her from Hogwarts, having shared a dormitory with her for six years. She turned back to ask Ron _why_ he'd taken her to a café where his previous girlfriend once worked, however the sight of him cowering behind the menu simply made her snort with laughter.

"Oh for gods sake, just come out from behind the menu," she said, jerking it out of his hands. This caused him to squeak and dive under the table. "I mean, unless you murdered her cat or something, I don't think she's going to care that you're here."

"Er yeah, well thing is, I really have bad experience when it comes to girls …" Came Ron's muffled voice from under the table. Hermione rolled her eyes and gave a hasty nod to the wizard sat at the table next to them, who was eyeing Ron under the table, looking rather confused. "I was sixteen when we went out! And well, I didn't really know how to break up with her, so …"

"You're not telling me that you didn't actually dump her?" Hermione asked, aghast.

"No!" Ron insisted, sticking his head out slightly to look at her, so now she could only just see his eyes, his forehead and top of his very red head. "I, er … got Ginny to do it …"

Hermione tried very much not to laugh, but against her will, she let out a snort. "How … how much did you have to pay her?" she asked, covering her mouth with a hand to try and stifle her laughter.

She knew he was looking sheepish, despite the fact that she could only see half his face. "Eleven Sickles. Was all I could afford, so I had to do her homework till the end of the year. I learnt a _lot_ in Sixth Year …"

Hermione snorted again. "Well, I hope you have a plan to get out of this …" she said since by that point, Lavender had approached their table.

"Hi, my name is Lavender, I'll be serving you today, what can I get you?" she rattled off, looking bored as she flicked her wand and her notepad got ready to write. It was then she actually noticed who was sitting at the table. "_Hermione Ganger_?" she said, astonished.

"Er, hello …" Hermione said, giving a half-hearted wave. As much as she was looking forward to Ron getting chewed out by his ex, she had never actually liked the girl. At all. She had spent way too much time exploring the pros and cons of un-chippable nail polish for her liking and as a result, the two had never really gotten along.

Lavender didn't seem to know what to say. "I … er, shit! How … er, are you?" she eventually said, looking extremely awkward.

"Oh, you know …" Hermione glanced at Ron for help, but soon found that _that_ was a mistake. Lavender glanced over as well and noticed the head still sticking out from under the table.

"_Ron Weasley_?"

"Oh! Er, hi Lavender …" Ron grimaced as he reluctantly climbed back into his chair. Lavender's expression had grown stormy.

"What the hell're _you_ doing here?" she asked, eyes narrowed.

"Oh, just enjoying the summer sunshine, you know," Ron said what he apparently thought was a nonchalant tone. "Thought we'd come here for a bite to eat! Didn't … didn't know you still worked here … last I heard, you were planning to move to France …"

Lavender gave him a very shrewd look. "I got a job offer at the Ministry," she said, finally. "I'm still at the café to pay for tuition. So you going to tell me how you two apparently know each other? Don't think I'd ever seen you exchange one word at Hogwarts …"

"Oh, I met Hermione almost a month ago now," Ron said. Hermione noticed his ears steadily turning a bright red colour. "And er, turns out we … er well, she's …" He trailed off looking quite hopelessly lost and Hermione had to suppress another snort of laughter. For something to do, he grabbed his Pumpkin Juice and took a gulp. Under the table, Hermione kicked her sandal off and trailed her bare foot up his leg, as if to say _oh, Ron you know exactly who I am _…

He promptly choked on his Pumpkin Juice.

"We're … together." Hermione eventually told Lavender, since Ron just hacked and coughed.

She wasn't sure what Lavender was expecting, but it definitely wasn't that. "Oh," she said, eventually. "I see. Well …" She snapped her notebook closed. "If his sister comes up to you saying 'we need to talk', then _good bloody luck_."

And she stalked off without taking their order.

Ron groaned and banged his head on their table. "I didn't think it went _that_ badly," Hermione mused out loud. "I mean, here I was, thinking that she would try and murder you …"

"Ah well," Ron said, shrugging. "She just couldn't let go of me …"

"Can't imagine why," Hermione said, dryly. "Well, since I figured she probably wouldn't serve us, I'll have you know that I sent our order to the front counter as soon as I realised it was her, ten minutes ago," Hermione said, gesturing to another waitress who was levitating food in their direction. "And you're in luck! I think it's just about here."

Ron's eyes lit up at the sight of food and practically inhaled his muffin as soon as it landed on their table. "_Oh_ …" he sighed around the chocolate muffin. "I _love_ you, Hermione!" He said without even thinking.

Hermione only smiled. "Don't let Lavender hear you say that."

* * *

><p>It was during that weekends adventure when she brought it up.<p>

"C'mon, Amelia wouldn't run from this!" Ron was yelling. They were down by the river that ran through Ottery St Catchpole, Ron already having swung across to the other side on the rope swing. He and his siblings used to play down there all the time. He'd found himself down there a lot recently.

"Yeah, well you're forgetting Amelia could turn into a cat …" Hermione called from the other side, clutching the rope tightly in her hands and staring at the water. It wasn't a particularly big river, but for some reason, she still seemed to be terrified.

"Like I've said before, you'd make a good cat!"

"Ron, I don't know …"

"Oh, c'mon," Ron said, hanging off a stray tree branch. "You can't save me if you're on that side of the river."

"I think I'm ready for the adventure to be over now!" Hermione yelled and Ron rolled his eyes.

"This was your idea!"

"No, this was _your_ idea!" Hermione yelled back. "_I_ said we should go on an adventure – _you_ were the one who dragged me down here! Besides, the party starts in half an hour, we should probably get goin–"

"–sorry, what party?" Ron cut in, frowning.

Hermione didn't answer and all he could hear was the roaring of the river. "Hermione–?"

"I … didn't I tell you?" For some reason, Hermione looked nervous. "Harry and some others are having a party tonight at the Leaky Cauldron. You know … sort of to celebrate us surviving the year …"

Ron frowned even more, still hanging off his branch. "That's funny, considering half the wizarding world _didn't_ survive the year …"

Hermione sighed. "Look, you can invite your sister if you want, I'm sure Harry wouldn't mind. I think we all need a bit of celebrating right now, yeah?"

"Not really …" Ron muttered to himself, twisting at his branch absently and thinking of Fred. Hermione didn't hear him over the rushing of the river, which was probably a good thing. She was already looking exasperated.

"Come on, Ron," she said, starting to look slightly nervous again. "We won the war, that's reason enough to celebrate, right?"

"Yeah, maybe since _we're _alive and all," Ron said, bitterly. "We can all go sit in the Leaky Cauldron and drink merrily to the people who _died_! Why the hell're you telling me about this stupid party anyway?"

Hermione gaped for a moment before blushing bright red. "We're allowed to bring guests and I was _going_ to ask you to come, but if you think it's that stupid then I won't bother!"

Ron snapped his head up to stare at her. She was scowling, but still bight red. "You were going to ask me?" He said, still staring.

Hermione looked up to direct her scowl at him. "Yes," she said, angrily. "But if you'd rather sit here and mope by yourself …"

Ron stared at her for a moment. "No, I wouldn't." he said.

He wasn't exactly sure what he would've done next – if he was on her side of the river, he might have kissed her. However, before he could even act, the branch he was hanging onto suddenly gave an almighty _crack_ and split from the tree entirely. Ron found himself plunging face-first into the river with a yell and a splash.

"_Ron_!" Hermione called. "Ron, are you all right?"

Ron spouted water from his mouth. "Wet, this, isn't it?" he said.

* * *

><p>The party was in full swing by the time they got there, though Ron really wasn't in the mood for it. The summer had only just turned into July – the war was almost exactly two months ago. And here was the better part of their year group, sitting in the Leaky Cauldron, being <em>happy<em>.

Yeah well, all Ron had to say was screw _happy_.

"Hey, Ron!" Harry called, waving them over from where he was sat with Neville at a table. "Hermione! How're you two, then?"

"Well, _I'm_ brilliant," Hermione answered, sitting down. "Mr I'm-Going-to-Sulk-for-the-Next-Five-Hours on the other hand …" Ron just shot her a look and didn't answer. Neville was frowning at Hermione and that was when Ron remembered – Neville knew about Fred. In fact, he'd been at the funeral. As far as Harry and Hermione were concerned, there were so many people who died that day, one Weasley brother was hardily enough to keep track of.

Still.

Even though he was still slightly pissed off at her for dragging him here when all he really wanted to do was perhaps curl up on the Burrow's sofa with a comic of _The Adventures of Amelia the Animagus_, Ron found that he still watched her throughout the night. She was chatting to Neville happily when Harry said,

"You really fancy her, don't you?"

Ron shot him a look. "Kind of obviously, I think."

Harry snorted. "Look mate, I'm not going to go all older-brotherly, over-protective because lets face it, she could have you in St Mungos in one second if she wanted," Ron did know it and they both shuddered, imagining. "But I _am_ going to ask, despite this being my good-as sister we're talking about … what's the deal with you two?"

"What d'you mean?"

"Well," Harry shrugged. "Are you actually going out? It's like you've been stuck with a permanent sticking charm ever since you met."

Ron felt his ears turning red as he glanced sideways at Hermione again. "I dunno, really …" he muttered. "We hang out … go on adventures …"

"Ah, yes. Adventures," Harry smiled. "She likes that. Was ranting and raving after your first little outing. While it was normal for _her_ to condone the uniform standards, I don't think I'd ever remembered seeing _you_ wearing your Gryffindor tie so often before …"

"Oh, shut it." Ron punched his shoulder.

"Oi!" Harry said, though he grinned. "Mate, you seem a bit … I dunno, down tonight. I dunno if it's about Hermione or not, but my advice is to _talk_ to her. You'll probably find that she understands a bit more than you think. Brain the size of England, that one."

"Don't I know it," Ron said. He turned to Harry. "Thanks, mate."

"Ah, no problem," Harry said, shrugging. "Just promise to look after her, yeah?"

"Yeah." Ron would've been fine with spending the rest of the night just talking to Harry – he'd forgotten his easy-going nature and well, he did live with him for six years. But that was when Hermione wandered back over again, leaning against Ron's side as casually as if they'd been doing it for years.

"So, my boys keeping out of trouble?" she asked, smiling. Ron still didn't know how she could do it and Harry eyed the two, noticing how her smile dropped slightly when she realised Ron wouldn't look her in the eye.

"Ron, can I speak to you for a moment?" she asked and Ron felt his insides freeze at the thought. However, he couldn't say no to her.

"Sure." he said blankly, allowing her to grab his hand and lead him through the Leaky Cauldron and to the hallway that led to the rooms at the Inn. She shut the door to the pub behind them, blocking out the sounds of the party.

It was silent save for them. Ron had never felt so naked.

"All right, out with it," Hermione demanded, hands on hips. "What is your problem?"

"Nothing." Ron said shrugging, hands in pockets.

Hermione gave an exasperated sigh, the one she often did when he managed to annoy her. "No, it's not!" she said. "You never wanted to come to this party, did you?"

"Not particularly."

"Then why _did_ you come?"

"You asked me!" Ron retorted, looking up at her. "I could hardily say no, could I?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "For Gods sake Ron, I didn't _force_ you to come!"

"Yeah well, you might as well have," Ron said, moving away from her and leaning against the corridor wall. "I didn't particularly want to sit in there, surrounded by people celebrating the fact that they survived the war! I feel guilty enough as it is!"

"What the hell d'you have to feel guilty about?" Hermione yelled. "You survived, that's not a crime! That just proves that you fought, that you were brave, that you–"

"I wasn't _brave_, Hermione!" Ron yelled back. "You don't have any idea how bloody _scared_ I was that night!"

Hermione shook her head. "Ron, I was scared too, that doesn't mean you weren't brav–"

"Yes, it does!" he yelled, hands leaving his pockets to gesture frantically. "Maybe if I'd been braver, if I'd fought better, but doesn't bloody _matter_ any more because nothing can bring him back, Hermione! My brother is _dead_ because of that war!" he practically roared that last statement, making Hermione go rigid with shock. "He's gone and _nothing_ can bring him back! His twin is an emotional wreck and hasn't said a word since the funeral! When he died, he ripped a chunk out of our family and Hermione, no amount of sitting around, clapping ourselves on the back for getting through it all is going to change that! So _sorry_ if I don't want to sit around with a bunch of people who applaud themselves on living when my brother is DEAD!"

He breathed heavily at the end of his outburst and though he knew it was the cause of the hurt on Hermione's face, he wouldn't take it back. Since they were silent, he could hear a voice outside the door to the pub wonder out loud what all the yelling was about. Hermione just stared at him for a few moments before glancing at the door once, then grasping his hand tightly. "My house. _Now_." she said before twisting on the spot with a _crack_.

Ron found himself in what had to be Hermione's bedroom. She stormed around the room, slamming the door shut and flicking on the lights so he got a good look around – perfectly made bed, desk and huge bookshelf that was overflowing. While they had often hung out around her lounge downstairs, even meeting her parents, he'd never actually been in her room before.

However his musings were cut short when Hermione rounded on him.

"You idiot!" she yelled and Ron's mouth fell open almost instantly to argue back, but she pressed on. "Why didn't you _tell_ me about your brother?"

"Well, I don't like to _remember_ the fact that he's dead!" Ron yelled.

Hermione made a sound that would've been an exasperated groan, only it sounded a lot more frustrated than usual. "_Ron_!" she cried. "How the _hell_ do you expect me to know how you're feeling if you won't even mention the fact that your brother died in the war? His _twin_? Oh, I remember those two now! I had to tell them off so many times for setting off dungbombs and other ridiculous things. You three must be _devastated_!"

"Yeah well, it's not just us …" Ron muttered.

Hermione just gaped. "How many of you _are_ there?" she said.

For some reason, Ron just felt even guiltier. "Look, I don't even know how to answer that any more!" he yelled. "If someone asks Mum how many children she has, _what does she say_?"

"Well _I_ wouldn't know, since I didn't even know you _had_ brothers, let alone one that died!"

"There _were_ seven!" Ron roared at her, storming over to her bedroom door and leading against it roughly in an attempt to get as far away from her as possible. "Me, Ginny and five older brothers! And now what? There's only six of us? Mum still cries at the littlest things like putting her slippers on the wrong feet! Percy left us during the war to support the Ministry and is now trying to make up for it, but no amount of cooking and cleaning he can do will make a difference! Bill and Fleur jetted off for France the second the funeral was over! Charlie disappeared to Romania again and George hasn't left his room in two months! Ginny's busy pretending everything's all right and Dad can barely hold everything together! And me–" He suddenly cut himself off. He couldn't speak anymore.

Hermione had been standing by her bed, eyes silently filling with tears. Now they ran down her cheeks as she managed to say, "Ron … I'm _sorry_ …"

"Yeah, well …" Ron said, bitterly. "Doesn't matter any more, does it?"

"You still should've told me."

"Oh really, when?" Ron said. "While we were busy running around Diagon Alley? When we were climbing trees or while I was thrashing you at chess? There's never a good time to just blurt out to your girlfriend 'oh, by the way, my brother's dead and my family is in the middle of having an emotion breakdown'!"

Hermione was silent for a moment. Then she said, "Girlfriend?"

"You – what?"

"Girlfriend," Hermione repeated, even though Ron had heard her quite clearly the first time. "You called me your girlfriend …"

"Oh," Ron was already on the verge of crying as it was. He didn't need any more emotion. "I guess … I mean, I suppose …"

"Look Ron, I'm _sorry_," Hermione said, tears still running freely. "I – I should've asked if it was ok first, I shouldn't have forced you to com–"

"No, it's fine," Ron said, trying to look anywhere but at her. He failed. As soon as he met her eyes, he knew it was no use. "But Hermione … it _hurts_."

"Oh my God …" Hermione muttered and she moved forward. Ron somehow found his feet moving as well and in the next second, he had slammed against her, throwing his arms around her waist tightly and pressing his face into her hair. It took him another second to realise he was sobbing.

Hermione was crying too and they stood there for quite some time, simply holding onto each other. Ron hadn't let himself feel quite this much about Fred before and to feel it while sobbing all over Hermione made him feel at least a little bit of embarrassment. However, he still couldn't bring himself to let go of her and in fact, just clung on even more tightly.

Eventually the sobs eased off and they found themselves just standing there in silence with their arms around each other. He realised he was absent-mindedly rubbing circles on her back and her face was pressed contently into his neck when he spotted it, just sitting there on her bed.

"… er, Hermione?"

"Yeah?"

"Why in Merlin's name do you have a stuffed dragon sitting on your bed?"

Hermione sniffed and glanced around. "Oh," she said, spotting the small, black dragon sitting by her pillow. "That's Norbert. Won him in Diagon Alley summer after my First Year at Hogwarts. Was with Harry and Hagrid when they did a lucky draw for anyone who'd bought a Gilderoy Lockhart book that day."

Ron snorted. "Gilderoy Lockhart?" he repeated, looking at her.

"Shut it!" she said, slapping his chest. "We had to buy them that year! Either way, Hagrid thought it was the best thing ever and named him Norbert. Though Harry insists that he's really a girl and should be called Norberta. I think I prefer Norbert."

"I think I do too," Ron said, still eyeing the dragon's beady eyes as he held Hermione around the waist. "Although it was a bit of a fright to have those eyes staring at me. I swear that thing is alive …"

Hermione snorted. "He won't bite. Breathing fire on the other hand …"

Ron would have laughed but that was when Hermione leaned up and kissed him, fingers threading through his hair. Since they were already wrapped up in each other, it didn't take very long for it to get significantly passionate. However, it wasn't until Hermione reached down to his waist and pulled his Weasley jumper off when he realised where this might be going.

"Oh – er – Hermione … a-aren't your parents home?"

"Oh, no," Hermione answered, smiling at him. "They're at some sort of convention in Birmingham. It's got something to do with teeth, I didn't really ask for the details."

"That's – er – great," Ron managed to get out since she had gone back to kissing him, on his neck this time. "But … d-don't you want to … I dunno, go r-read or something?"

"Read?" Hermione paused and glanced up at him, looking like she was on the verge of laughing. "Ron, I might like books, but I'm not going to pull out _Hogwarts: A History_ right at the moment …"

"Ah," Ron said, becoming even more significantly nervous as he felt his ears go a very bright red. "It's just–"

She cut him off, kissing him hard on the lips and making him stumble slightly towards her bed. Her hands went to the hem of his t-shirt. "_Hermione_–"

"Are you all right?" she asked, pausing again. "It's ok, it's only me. God, I think I can feel actual heat coming off your ears …"

"Well, it's just …" Ron glanced at her bed. "I've never exactly …"

Hermione caught his gaze. "Oh. _Oh_. Oh, Merlin's pants!"

"Yeah." Ron muttered.

"Oh Ron, I'm _sorry_," she said, almost smiling at him as she snatched her hands back, leaping a good few metres away. "I just … I assumed you had …"

Ron just shook his head, embarrassed enough as it was. He wasn't about to make it worse by talking.

Hermione walked forward hesitantly before looping her arms around his waist lightly. "It's just … didn't you go out with Lavender Brown?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah …"

"Well, I did have to share a dormitory with her for six years," she said. "I've heard a lot about her … er, romantic escapades, if you will. Sorry, but I just assumed …"

"… that I was one of them?" Ron finished for her and she nodded, reluctantly. "Yeah well … _you_ certainly seem to know what you're doing."

Hermione blushed. "Er, just barely. Once. Sixth Year. Some Quidditch player I went to Slughorn's Christmas party with. Wasn't brilliant or anything, but I was a bit emotionally spent that year and needed a bit of comforting … besides," she glanced up at him. "I've got you now, don't I?"

Ron grinned. "I suppose, yeah."

She kissed him then and all previous thoughts were forgotten. Ron decided to try and curb his nervousness and found it wasn't very hard when she did _that_ with her lips. His shirt was off by the time his knees hit her bed and they fell onto it in a heap of tangled limbs and laughter. Suddenly, he found himself completely surrounded by her as her hands trailed downward and it was altogether quite thrilling until he felt _it_.

"No, no, hang on …" Ron gasped, pulling away from her for a moment. "Something's not right …"

"What?" Hermione looked concerned as she stared at him. Ron rolled them over slightly so he could reach under him and Hermione raised an eyebrow. However the next second, he had pulled out a very battered and very not-pleased-looking stuffed dragon.

"Er, Norbert was digging into my back …"

* * *

><p>They never did make it back to the party.<p>

* * *

><p>"Hermione …" Ron muttered, since she was half-asleep and completely tangled up in him. She looked so comfortable he almost didn't want to make her move. "Hermione. Ginny's going to worry if I don't turn up, she was kind of my ride home since I'm not the best at the whole Apparating thing …"<p>

"Mmm …"

"_Hermione_ …"

"Mmm …"

"You have to get _off_ me."

He felt her smile into his chest. "Oh, no," she muttered, eyes still shut. "Ginny'll be fine. You can … stay."

Ron snorted as Hermione's soft breathing filled the room. He placed a kiss to her hair as she muttered, "… g'night."

"Yeah. Love you."

Hermione glanced sleepily up at him at that. "… really?" she asked, giving a slight smile.

Ron sighed. "Always the tone of surprise."

* * *

><p>AN: So here is the second part of five and like i said, the parts will be posted each Saturday (my NZ time). Just Ron and Hermione growing closer in this one - not much else to say, really. Thank you so much for all of the reviews you have given me so far, you've all been great and supportive.

I hope you all enjoyed this! Remember reviews are always appreciated, i would love to know what you all think.

Until next time-

-Moon. : D


	3. Adventure to forget

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Ron, Hermione or adventures. I don't even own the format or the plot. Basically, i own nothing.

* * *

><p>Adventures.<p>

Blurb …

Every weekend they would go on an adventure. "The mer-people have stolen the most important thing in the world to you. What did they take?" "… you?" :RHr takes place during an AU postDH:

**Note:** This story takes place in an AU after the end of the war. _Ron never met Hermione and Harry_ on that first day for Hogwarts and was never friends with them. Voldemort took over, but Harry and Hermione never went through the crazy adventures they went on in the books. There was a final battle, but no Horcruxes to destroy, Philosopher's Stone to save, Basilisk to fight, Time-travel, Triwizard Tournament, Battle at the Ministry, or getting the locket. Just Voldemort to kill. All in all, a rather boring version of HP that takes a while.

This takes place the summer after the war ended.

* * *

><p><em>Part Three: Adventure to forget<em>

It wasn't until Harry pointed it out when Ron saw the problem.

"So are you two sticking together, or what?" he asked one day in late August. Diagon Alley was swarming with young families, all buying books and supplies for Hogwarts, which they would all leave for in one week.

"What d'you mean?" Ron asked, confused. Hermione had told him that she had 'stuff' to do that day and that she would see him later. Not quite summoning up the energy to get into a fight, Ron had just grumbled to himself before owling Harry and suggesting they get an ice cream.

Harry shrugged, licking his own ice cream. "Well, she'll be off to Hogwarts soon! And I know you're close, but you haven't been together that long …"

Ron felt his eyebrows narrow. "Hogwarts?"

Harry nodded. "I can't believe it's nearly September already," he said. "But yeah. Don't get me wrong, you two are brilliant together, couldn't ask for a better person to be with my sister," Ron smiled at that. "But you know what Hermione's like. She'll get there with her nose in a book and won't resurface till the year's over. It's how I managed to pass History of Magic, actually."

"No, hang on," Ron stopped him. "Since when was she _going back to Hogwarts_?"

Harry frowned. "Well … we never went back for our last year. What with the war and all. I was fine with not having NEWTs, I was still accepted into Auror training. But Hermione's a different matter. Not getting her NEWTs would be like … I dunno, blasphemy?"

That stumped Ron. Of course he knew Hermione. Of course he knew that she would want to go back to Hogwarts. _Of course_.

How come he didn't know, then?

* * *

><p>"So when were you going to tell me that you're going back to Hogwarts in September?" Ron blurted out later that day. Hermione had her back to him, busy placing new school books on her bookshelf. However, she stiffened as soon as she heard his words.<p>

"I thought you would've figured that out already." she said, without turning around.

"Oh, _really_?" Ron said, scathingly. He folded his arms in a huff as he sat on her bed. "How the _hell_ did you think I would have figured that out? Half the time I stop and freak out over the fact that I barely know you!"

"_What_? Of course you know me!" she retorted.

Ron groaned. "Yes, all right, I know you," he said. "I know that you hate broccoli, I know that you aren't satisfied until you've read an entire book in one day, I know you can't stand it when people dog-ear pages in books, I know you sit in the aisles of Flourish and Blotts, reading books but not actually buying anything, I know you love it when I kiss you behind your ear, I know Harry's your best mate, I know your hair frizzes more than usual when it's really humid, I know you have to make your bed a certain way or you spaz, I know you can make a _brilliant_ spaghetti bolognaise, I know that you alphabetise your books by author's last names and that if anyone screws that up, you'll murder them, but _Hermione_–" he practically yelled her name. "–I don't bloody well KNOW you!"

Hermione had gone completely still during his rant. "What are you talking about?" she said, eventually.

Ron didn't know why the hell he put up with her. "Hermione, I know that you can list your entire book collection off by heart, but I had no idea where you were going to be living, come September!"

Her eyes fill with tears, but she ignored them. "Look, I just didn't want us to spend the entire summer together, knowing that we'd have to split later," she said, defiantly turning back to her books. "Can't we just leave it?"

"Not if you're talking about us splitting!" Ron cut in. He got up from her bed to stand right in front of her and stare her down. "Hermione, the fact that you're going to a magical boarding school for the next ten months or so is generally something you _tell_ your boyfriend!"

"Well, what did you expect?" Hermione snapped back. "That I'd just go, 'oh by the way, I'm leaving you in September! Let's get back to our adventure then!'?"

"So that's it?" Ron said, not believing he was so hurt at this. "You weren't going to tell me until you actually disappeared onto the Hogwarts Express?"

"Well, obviously I was going to say _somethi_–"

"What, Hermione?" Ron cut in over her. When she didn't answer, he repeated, "_What_?"

He saw the tears in her eyes threaten to spill over, which he immediately felt bad about, but he couldn't bring himself to care at that point. "I don't know," Hermione said eventually, in a very small voice. "I … it's not easy to … I've never had to …" When she caught his eye, he made it perfectly clear he wasn't going to say 'what' again. She sighed, "I've never had to dump someone before." she said, finally.

Ron was silent for a few moments. "Ok first of all, you went out with Victor Krum in Forth Year," he said. "And second of all – when the hell were we breaking up? Because I certainly didn't get that owl."

"He was going back to Bulgaria, it wasn't exactly breaking up!" Hermione insisted. "And I just thought – well, we'll be miles apart – and–"

"–and didn't think we'd be able to handle long-distance?" Ron finished for her, quite frankly insulted. When she didn't answer, he added, "Or you didn't think _I_ could handle long-distance?"

Hermione threw him a contemptuous look as she went back to her books. "For Merlin's sake, you _know_ that's not what I meant."

"No! I really don't!" Ron grabbed her wrist, forcing her to turn back around and face him. "Hermione, I have no idea what you're on about half the time! It pisses me off to no end! Do you honestly think we aren't close enough to hack it? Why the hell're you going back to Hogwarts anyway? Any sane person would hire you on the spot!"

Hermione jerked her wrist back from him. "That's not the point!" she retorted. "I don't want to just be hired because I helped save the world!"

"They wouldn't hire you because you saved the world, they'd hire you because you're the smartest witch there bloody well is!"

"_And I don't have anything to show for that_!" Hermione practically yelled. She breathed heavily, rubbing her temple. "Ron, it's ok for you, you don't have to have a piece of paper proving you passed! Mind, that's probably a good thing but I'm different, I _need_ that!"

"What d'you mean _a good thing_?"

"Well, you never cared about exam results to begin with! Of course going back and getting your NEWTs means nothing to you!"

"Means _nothing_?" Ron yelled as she went back to shoving her books into her bookshelf rather forcefully. Ron was sure she was going to rip a cover off pretty soon if she kept practically throwing them in like that. "Bloody hell, if it meant _nothing_ to me, d'you think I'd be standing here _arguing_ with you over it?"

"But you still don't want me to go!"

"Yes!" Ron yelled. "All right, damn me to hell if you want because yes, I'm bloody selfish and don't want you to go! You don't _need_ to go! You could have any job you want, right now, with no NEWTs!"

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" Hermione practically screamed at him. He had to be thankful that her parents weren't home then because he at least knew her well enough to know that there was no way to calm her down at this point. "Ron, NEWTs don't just mean a good job, they mean _more_ than that! They mean a _hell_ of a lot more to me!"

"Then GO!" Ron roared, gesturing wildly with his arm. "Jet off to Hogwarts, see if I care!"

"Oh for Gods sake, of _course_ you care!" Hermione yelled. "You think I _want_ to leave you here?"

Ron stared at her for a few moments. Then eventually, he asked, "So what are you doing then?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you staying, or what?"

"I …" Hermione was properly crying now and while before they were tears of anger, now she just looked devastated. "No – no, Ron I'm not … I've _got_ to go back."

"I get it," Ron said, turning away from her and that face he couldn't say no to. "You choose Hogwarts."

"Ron, no – please – come back, come back!" Hermione yelled after him as he stormed out of her room, slamming the door for good measure.

* * *

><p>As soon as he Disapparated, he wished he hadn't. He hadn't been thinking when he did and having never been very good at Apparition (or actually passed his test for starters), he splinched himself as he ended up in a paddock behind the Burrow.<p>

With only nine fingers.

"_Shit_!" he yelled, clutching at his right hand, where his pinkie finger was now missing. He wrapped his t-shirt around it, wincing and swearing under his breath as he looked up and noticed where he was. "Not far off then …" he muttered.

When he finally trekked through the back door and into the Burrow's kitchen, he was glad that it was his eldest brother, Bill, there and not his mother. Bill spun around guiltily when the door opened, apparently in the middle of stealing some food from the pantry.

"I'm not–! Oh, Ron," Bill relaxed for a moment, taking a bite out of his muffin. Then he noticed the blood. "Holy shit, what happened?"

"Had a fight with Hermione," he said shortly, gingerly sitting down at the kitchen table. "Disapparated. Not very well, apparently."

"Bloody hell, mate …" Bill pulled out his wand and poked his hand, restoring the skin and vanishing the blood. However he still only had nine fingers. "Sorry, I don't know what else to do. You'll need to go to St Mungos or the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad will have to come sort it."

"That's fine for now, thanks." Ron muttered, glancing at his now four-fingered hand. With a pang, he realised that Hermione would probably know how to fix it. She could fix everything.

Bill just shot him a look as he sat down next to him. "Ron … what the hell made you Apparate like that? Quite frankly, you know you suck at it …"

"Told you. Had a fight with Hermione."

"So? You two fight all the time." Bill said, giving him a look.

"A rather _bad_ fight."

Bill sighed. "So you had a bit of a domestic. Big deal! Just go back and apologise. Works wonders, believe me. The amount of times Fleur's made me sleep on the sofa …"

"Bill, you don't get it!" Ron almost yelled. "I _really_ screwed up! She probably considers us broken up, I wouldn't be surprised if she hated me …"

Bill stared at him for a few moments. Then he sighed again. "Look mate," he said. "I've seen you two together. Ever since you met, you've been attached at the hip. I've never seen two people yell so much, yet also need to be with each other like that. I won't ask you to explain what happened, 'cause I know you won't tell me," Bill grinned at that. "But I'm your big brother. And I'm supposed to give you advice along with beating you up."

"Well, you mostly left the beating up to Fred and George." The words were out of his mouth before he'd even realised what he'd said. They both froze at the mention of their dead brothers' name.

Eventually, Bill shrugged. "If Fred were here, he'd be giving you shit about splinching yourself," he said. "As it is, you're just going to have to settle for the advice: go back to her."

"Come again?"

"You heard me," Bill said, nodding. "_Go back to her_."

"Look, I don't think you understand the magnitude of what happened he–"

"You're right," Bill cut in. "I don't. But I know enough that you're not supposed to be _here_, moaning about only having nine fingers. Go back to her and get her to give you your finger back."

Ron knew Bill was right. He should go back to her. But he was also pretty sure that if he did that, he'd get a slap of a lifetime. He could only imagine what she was like back at her own home – she'd begged him to come back, followed him all the way outside (for it took him a few moments of blind rage to remember that he'd actually wanted to Apparate) and he'd disappeared on her anyway.

He could almost hear her calling his name.

And with that, he got up from the table, clapped Bill on the shoulder and practically ran outside so he could Disapparate.

* * *

><p>Hermione had thrown herself into a chair outside in her garden, trying not to make it too obvious that she'd been crying. She was thankful that her parents weren't home that night.<p>

If she didn't hear the loud crack, she certainly heard the loud, "_Shit! Where the bloody hell is my finger_?"

She was out of the chair like a rocket.

"Ron?"

"Hermione!" Ron staggered towards her, peering at the ground. "I came back, I'm so sorry, but I've lost my finger, if you could–?"

WHACK!

"You-complete-_arse_-Ronald-Weasley!" Hermione punched him with every word she yelled at him.

"Ouch – ow–!" Ron yelled, cringing from her attacks. "–gerrof! What the–? Hermione – OW!"

"I'll give you a finger all right!" she screamed. "I'll get you a bloody finger and shove it up your–"

"HERMIONE!" Ron roared and she finally felt silent, still seething. "Look, you can punch me later, but I splinched myself when I Apparated!"

"Oh," she deflated slightly. "Fine."

Once they had successfully located his missing pinkie finger (lying on the grass a few feet away), Hermione had managed to temporarily attach it back to his hand ("_Honestly, I only know the theory behind splinching, I'm going to have to take you to St Mungos!_"). Ron thanked her anyway as they made their way back to Hermione's house. They found themselves standing in front of the back door, just staring at each other. He looked so devastated that before she even realised what she was doing, Hermione found herself letting out a sob and throwing herself into his arms.

"I was going to tell you …" she muttered between shuddering breaths into his neck. Ron tightened his arms around her waist.

"Yeah. Course you were."

"I just …"

"Yeah," Ron said again, suddenly leaning in and kissing her desperately. Hermione felt her brain switch off completely and this continued for several moments before Ron pulled away slightly and muttered, "Look, if we've only got a week left, we've got to force a whole lot of catching up into those seven days, right?"

Hermione snorted with laughter, despite the tears. "My room. _Now_."

It wasn't until they'd slammed into her bedroom door and she was in the process of pulling her t-shirt off when he stopped her, "Hermione?"

She paused and glanced up.

"I'm sorry."

"I know."

"I love you."

"I know."

* * *

><p>Later, when they were both tangled up together in her bed, Hermione burying her head into his chest and him getting his fingers stuck in her hair, she asked a question akin to their adventures.<p>

"Would you rather be eaten by a giant snake or a giant spider?"

Ron shuddered. "Snake. I'll never face a spider if I can help it." he answered and Hermione gave a sleepy giggle of laughter. She thought of another one.

"The mer-people have stolen the most important thing in the world to you," she said, already half-asleep. "What did they take?"

She expected some Ron-like answer like, 'my broom', 'my Mum's cooking' or 'my entire collection of mediocre comics'. Instead, he thought for a few moments before saying,

"… you."

* * *

><p>They went on more adventures than he would've thought possible in those seven days. He had to work, so she hung out at Flourish and Blotts, discreetly reading through the entire series of <em>The Adventures of Amelia the Animagus<em> (for the fourth time – at least this time Ron didn't tell her off). He took her to the Burrow for Sunday dinner and endured every single one of his siblings teasing him. Hermione took him on a tour of Muggle London, getting them hopelessly lost and ending in having to Apparate and modify a lot of memories. Ron took her to the arcade in Diagon Alley where the games were run by magic and they attempted to beat each other at 'whack-a-Grindylow'. He won her a stuffed centaur, which she called Firenze. He helped her pack for Hogwarts (and made her leave behind over half the books she had tried to fit into her trunk). On their last night together, Hermione was washing all of her clothes, so she snuggled next to him on her sofa, wearing one of his jumpers and pair of his old pyjama pants as she forced him through a marathon of her favourite Muggle T.V. show.

It was like when they first met, only now he didn't think they could get any closer and he wondered that perhaps this was what forever felt like.

* * *

><p>AN: So part three. Part two got some mixed reviews which i appreciate you all telling me. A few people had issues with the Hermione/Cormac thing. I have explained my reasonings behind this to those i could reply to, so now nearly all of you understand why i did it.

To those i couldn't reply to, all i have to say is don't let one little thing spoil a whole story for you. What happened in their past happened and now all that matters is that Ron and Hermione have each other. : D

Still, thank you so much for your reviews, you all really have been amazing.

I hope you all enjoyed this! I would love to know what you all think.

Until next time-

-Moon. : D


	4. Adventures across the country

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Ron, Hermione or adventures. I don't even own the format or the plot. Basically, nothing is mine.

* * *

><p>Adventures.<p>

Blurb …

Every weekend they would go on an adventure. "The mer-people have stolen the most important thing in the world to you. What did they take?" "… you?" :RHr takes place during an AU postDH:

**Note:** This story takes place in an AU after the end of the war. _Ron never met Hermione and Harry_ on that first day for Hogwarts and was never friends with them. Voldemort took over, but Harry and Hermione never went through the crazy adventures they went on in the books. There was a final battle, but no Horcruxes to destroy, Philosopher's Stone to save, Basilisk to fight, Time-travel, Triwizard Tournament, Battle at the Ministry, or getting the locket. Just Voldemort to kill. All in all, a rather boring version of HP that takes a while.

This takes place the summer after the war ended.

* * *

><p><em>Part Four: Adventures across the country<em>

The day eventually came when Hermione had to catch the train.

"For the last time, d'you really need NEWTs?" Ron asked her as they stood on the platform. Even if Hermione hadn't been going, Ron would've been there anyway, seeing Ginny off. His other siblings had actually come together for a change, Bill and Fleur coming from France and Charlie from Romania to say goodbye to Ginny. However, Ron still tried to not notice that there was a Weasley twin missing.

Hermione smacked his arm. "Of course I do," she said, immediately. "You know what they mean to me!"

"And here I was thinking it was _me_ you were in a relationship with."

"Hey!"

The train gave a loud whistle and the two of them moved towards the rest of Ron's family so he could hug his little sister goodbye. "Look after Hermione?" he muttered as he squeezed her tightly. "Y'know, make sure she actually eats and stuff, right?"

Ginny laughed. "I will." she said, pulling away so she could hug Harry, who for some reason had turned slightly red. He was another who had been looking miserable all day. Hermione, who had just let go of her best friend, turned back to Ron.

They just stood there, staring at each other.

"I don't actually want to go now." she said, truthfully.

"Nah, you've got to get on that train," Ron said, reluctantly. "Go get those NEWTs. Be brilliant."

"Sometimes I don't see the point, to be honest," Hermione admitted, staring at the train. "All right, it's only when I think about leaving you behind here, but still … I thought if I got my OWLs then I'd be able to help save the world a bit better, but that didn't happen. What will getting my NEWTs do? Nothing will have changed."

"Yeah, it will," Ron said, determined to make her see sense. "You won't have to do all the work alone this time, Hermione, I'll help."

Hermione wavered for a few seconds and then she cried, "Oh, Ron!" and flung her arms around his neck.

"Oh … well, I just meant if you need me to quiz you or something …" Ron muttered into her hair, feeling rather awkward with his entire family standing there, watching them.

"I don't care," Hermione glanced up, tears shining on her face. "I'll see you later, yeah?"

Ron swallowed. "Yeah."

He kissed her hard then, forgetting that his family was still there. With his kiss, he hoped to make her remember him the entire time she was at Hogwarts. She kissed him back just as desperately for a few moments, then before Ron would ever really be ready for it, she pulled herself out of his arms and boarded the train with Ginny.

Ron stood next to Harry, arms folded as he watched Hermione lean out the window. Then, Ron glanced at Harry, noticed his gaze and snorted. "Mate, that's my _sister_." he said.

Harry gave a frustrated sigh. "I know."

Ron only shook his head. The train had started to move. "Don't have too many adventures without me!" he called after Hermione, who waved back.

"Amelia wouldn't dream of it!"

* * *

><p>They sent letters back and forth for the first few weeks they were apart, though Ron found that they weren't all that interesting. He didn't know when exactly Hermione had made his life what it was, but he suddenly found that without her in it, it was <em>extremely<em> boring. Likewise, all she had to say was what she studied that day and the occasional amusing story about Ginny.

Eventually, letters became far and few between as September turned to October and then eventually to November. Ron knew she was busy with school work and he himself was still working at Flourish and Blotts (why, he didn't have any idea – he'd been on the verge of quitting when he met Hermione. Knowing her love of books and the almost guaranteed fact that he'd be able to find her there, however …).

But still. He missed her.

"For Merlin's sake, just go to bloody Hogsmede!" Harry cut in over his thoughts, making him drop a large stack of books he'd been shelving. "You look like someone's hacked off your arm or something."

Ron felt his ears go red. "'s not like that …" he muttered.

Harry rolled his eyes. "The hell it's not," he said. "She might be the one I've known since we were eleven, but you're my best mate too. When was the last time you got a letter from her?"

"Er … about a month ago now?"

Harry nodded. "Exactly. She's busy, yeah, but that doesn't mean she can forget all about you. Make her remember you're still alive. Moping isn't going to get you anywhere, mate."

"Were you this much of a hard-arse at Hogwarts? I remember you being a lot more easy-going than this."

Harry shrugged, grinning. "Become an Auror and you'll toughen up too, Ron. Go on, just Apparate up to Hogsmede. Remind her why she fell in love with you in the first place."

The matter-of-fact tone Harry used startled Ron, but he still couldn't agree with his plan. "Can't," he muttered. "I failed my Apparition test at Hogwarts. Left half a bloody eyebrow behind. Last time I tried it, I lost a finger. Besides, she'll be studying all weekend."

Harry frowned for a moment, before grinning again. "I think if we manage to rope your brilliant sister into this," he said. "We'll definitely be able to bring you smack back into her life."

* * *

><p>Hermione was just about ready to explode at Ginny, since she had dragged her all the way out to Hogsmede when she <em>really<em> had a translation for Ancient Runes to finish. However, her protests of, "Ginny, come _on_–" were cut off when she saw Ron standing in the middle of High Street, ears red and looking sheepish.

As in Ron, standing in the middle of High Street.

_Ron_.

She didn't think she'd ever run faster.

* * *

><p>Since Hermione had to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas ("<em>Ron, I couldn't concentrate if I was at home<em>!" she had said, though he knew she actually meant that she couldn't concentrate if she was around him) and Ron found himself working overtime as people rushed to buy books as gifts, he didn't really believe that his gallant visit to Hogsmede was going to be enough to keep them together.

Until Harry Potter happened.

Ron read the letter Hermione had sent him along with his present on Christmas day, clutching the square package tightly in his other hand,

_Ron – _

_Ok, these are two-way mirrors. Harry gave them to me to use when you both came up here a few weeks ago, since it's obvious the letter thing isn't working. He got them a few years ago now actually, his Godfather gave them to him. Granted, he smashed one when he died … but that's not the point. He said that he had spent two hours searching the bottom of his old school trunk, trying to find all the pieces so he could fix it! That one isn't perfect because he couldn't find every shard, so you've got the good one that actually works. Mine will probably cut out on me every now and then. Pretty typical. _

_The idea is that you say my name into the mirror and we'll be able to see each other and speak to each other through them! It's perfect since it's in real-time, so we don't have to wait for letters that are probably two weeks out of date! _

_I expect you to call me as soon as you get this, because I want to know if my mirror will actually hold up! Oh, and of course because I miss you. That too. _

_Love you – _

– _Hermione. _

Grinning, Ron unwrapped his mirror. It wasn't huge and had a crack across one corner, but that didn't matter. Before he even realised what he was doing, he had practically yelled, "Hermione!" into the glass.

* * *

><p>"Aren't you tired?" Hermione asked him. While she was curled up in bed in her dormitory at Hogwarts, her mirror resting against her legs and yawning, Ron was wide awake, despite it being two in the morning.<p>

"Nah, I'm a man of the night."

"Only because you sleep in until midday."

"What else?" Ron grinned as she yawned again. "Look Hermione, you're tired, you should probably go to sleep–"

"No, no," she cut in, despite her face practically splitting in half thanks to her yawn. "I haven't been able to talk to you for days! And tomorrow I've got three essays to do!"

"Don't tell me, none of these essays are actually due some time soon?"

Hermione looked indignant. "Oi! If I don't start them now, then I'll get another three essays the next day and then where will I be come due day? Stuck in the library, trying to finish six essays!"

Ron shrugged. "I managed it."

Hermione sighed. "And barely scraped an A all year because of it."

"Hey, I got E's every now and then!"

Hermione snorted at him and curled up even more. She looked so comfortable, Ron very much so wished he could curl up with her. Her back pressed against his chest, fingers linked as his arm wrapped around her and he could kiss that spot behind her ear that she liked … anyway.

"You know, you're just as bad as these Fifth Years I had to put in detention today. I mean I'm sorry, but they'd gone too far."

"I – what?" Ron said, hoping she hadn't noticed that he wasn't listening and was definitely thinking more about getting Harry to Apparate him up to Hogsmede – and more specifically into her bed. "Sorry, but why had they gone too far?"

"They were feeding First Years sweets!"

"What? No – come on, Hermione – you can't tell people off for giving out sweets!"

Hermione shot him a look. "They were bought at your brother's joke shop."

"Oh," Ron wrinkled his forehead, thinking. "Well, that doesn't mean anyth–"

"You know perfectly well that they were bits of Nosebleed Nougat or – or Puking Pastilles or–"

"Fainting Fancies?" Ron suggested. "Those became rather popular – the little buggers were practically tackling people out of the way to get to them!"

"It isn't funny, Ron! They could've killed those First Years!"

"Ah, I'm sure you had it under control."

Hermione apparently deemed the conversation a lost cause, because she just shook her head, making her already bushy hair even bushier. "You would've been such a rubbish prefect, Ron."

"I _was_ a rubbish prefect, I'll have you know," Ron corrected her. "Besides, would've thought a girl as sharp as you would've been Head Girl this year!"

Hermione smiled sadly. "I'm one of three people from our year who went back to Hogwarts. They'd already picked one from Ginny's year group."

Ron thought for a moment after picking up on her grin-and-bare-it expression. "If I was Headmaster, I would've picked you straight away."

Hermione was quiet for a long moment before giving a small smile. "… thanks." she said.

* * *

><p>"… and I know Dad was probably right, but George and I thought 'to hell with it' and ended up playing Hangman for the next hour." Ron concluded his story about how Mr Weasley had lectured them on the proper security procedures for the joke shop. Since the shop was currently closed and George refused to step foot inside it, Ron had taken to helping out with keeping it in one piece, since it was clear that his brother wasn't going to do it. However, the charms their Dad had talked about were so complex that they'd completely given up.<p>

Hermione rolled her eyes. "How would it be," she asked. "If your Dad didn't come and do it for you?"

Ron snorted. "Then I'd call you."

"And if I decide that you don't need my help?"

"Then the shop would be robbed!" Ron said. "If you want that on your conscience, Hermione …"

"Well, you'd deserve it!" she said back. "You didn't even try to listen to him, did you?"

"We did try!" Ron insisted. "We just don't have your brains or your memory or your concentration – you're just cleverer than we are – is it nice to rub it in?"

"Oh, don't give me that rubbish." Hermione huffed, rolling over so Ron had a perfect view of her back. However, he could still hear the smile in her voice.

* * *

><p>It started to become a routine of theirs, to randomly call the other through the mirrors and talk about nothing. Hermione found herself one morning talking about the pros of Polyjuice Potion.<p>

"I'm serious!" Ron had insisted. "What would you do if there were, say seven of you?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Probably not what _you're_ thinking."

"Oi!"

"Look, I dunno … or well, besides the obvious doing several things at once, I suppose it'd be a good escape manoeuvre. I mean, if there were seven of you, then someone chasing you wouldn't know which was the real you!"

"Unless you were betrayed or something …"

"Ah, you'd never betray me."

"But what if I had no choice? What if some Death Eater got a hold of me and forced me to reveal our plans to have seven Hermione Granger's running about?"

Hermione thought. "Then we'd have to run a lot faster, wouldn't we?"

"Nah," Ron grinned. "We'd crack out the brooms! Make a mad-dash across the country, fighting tooth and nail against the Death Eaters! My Mum would take us in, I'm sure. We'd head to the Burrow."

"Ronald Weasley, the day you manage to get me on a broom, is the day this entire adventure comes true."

* * *

><p>"Hermione! <em>Hermione<em>!"

"Wha–?" Hermione jerked upright, looking for the source of the noise. It was a little after three in the morning and she'd just talked to Ron that evening. Glancing down over the side of her bed, she noticed Ron waving at her through the glass, a night-time street in the background.

"… Ruhhhh?" she said what was supposed to be an attempt at his name.

"Hermione!" Ron said happily as she groggily pulled the mirror up onto the bed with her. "Ya will never guess wha'!"

"What?"

"Amelia would _so_ beat Martin in a fist-fight!"

Hermione had to think for a few moments. "What the hell're you on about?"

"Amelia the Animagus!" Ron cried, obviously waving his mirror about since it crackled and gave her a blurry view of what had to be Diagon Alley. "She would beat Martin any day! Also, did ya know tha' Firewhisky bo'les can be musical instruments? Jus' blow into th' top and they go–" She saw him purse his lips and heard him blow into the mirror.

"… Ron are you drunk?" was her only statement.

"No!" he said immediately, before he cut himself off with a loud, "OUCH! BLOODY HELL!" as there was a loud crash and a thud. The mirror bounced along the pavement and Hermione got a view of the outside of the Leaky Cauldron.

"Ron? You all right?" she asked, trying hard not to laugh.

"'course!" Ron's face peered over the mirror. "Just some bloody cat came outta no where! Was all ginger and squashed lookin', I swear it was tryin' to kill me!"

"Sounds like my old cat I had before the war," Hermione yawned. "I'm sure he wasn't trying to kill you …"

"He was!" Ron insisted, struggling to his feet. "Honestly, I was jus' walkin' to th' joke shop, 'cause George remembered he had some brandy or somethin' in his fridge and I remembered I needed to tell ya 'bout Amelia! So I called ya, but then tha' bloody cat came leapin' at me, claws and everythin'!"

Hermione sighed. "I'm sure the cat's just as scared as you were," she said. "Probably been chased by a dog or something …"

"You, Hermione–" Ron pointed an accusing finger at her. "–are makin' no sense! Why would a _dog_ chase a cat?"

Hermione blinked. "Because it's a cat and a dog?"

"No, no, no! You've gotta use your imagination!" Ron flung his arm up gleefully and Hermione had to stifle a snigger. "Tha' cat was _deadly_! The only thing tha' could take 'im on would be a super-human dog tha's secretly an Animagus or somethin'! Either tha' or the Whomping Willow or somethin', bet tha's where he lives – oh my GOD!" Ron stopped dead in the middle of the road up Diagon Alley.

"What?" Hermione sat up, worried at his expression.

Ron brought his face really close to the mirror, fogging it up with his breath. Then he whispered, "Hermione … I think I was jus' attacked by Amelia!"

Hermione had to stuff her mouth with her pillow to stop herself from laughing.

* * *

><p>"Would you rather fight a dragon or get lost in a maze?"<p>

"… please tell me there's a third option."

"Er … swim to the bottom of a lake?"

Hermione sighed. How the hell did they end up having these conversations?

* * *

><p>"I'm bored, Hermione."<p>

"I can tell." she answered, since he was currently sitting backwards on his desk chair, legs up in the air, resting against the back while his head dangled upside-down. He spun around for a few moments and just as Hermione felt her eyes closing, he let out a loud huff.

"Hermione, I'm _bored_!"

"Then go to bed, then!" she snapped at him. "Merlin's pants, it's four in the morning!"

Ron swung himself upright, frowning. "You could've said you were tired."

"I'm not, I'm just sick of your complaining!"

Ron grinned. "Ah, but you know me, Hermione," he said. "Ooh! I've got it!"

"Got what?" she asked, warily.

"A game we can play!"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah! It's called 'Kill, Screw, Marry'!" he said. "Basically, you say the names of three people and you have to choose out of them who you'd kill, who you'd screw and who you'd marry."

"How on _Earth_ did you come up with that game?"

Ron shrugged. "Apparently George heard about it somewhere, we were playing it the night we celebrated Harry getting a promotion."

"You mean the night you were 'attacked' by Amelia?" Hermione asked, eyes glinting. Ron shot her a look.

"Oi, I genuinely thought she was out to get me!" he said. Hermione only snorted with laughter at that. "Anyway," Ron continued, now business-like as he went back to swinging on his chair, this time upright. "Ginny, Harry and me."

"What about you?"

Ron sighed. "The game, Hermione! Out of Ginny, Harry and me, who would you kill, screw, or marry?"

"Oh, I dunno …" Hermione thought. "Well, the idea of screwing _or_ marrying Harry kind of repulses me, even though I'm sure he's all right in bed … even so, I'd have to say I'd kill him."

Ron grinned. "I'll tell him that."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Do, and I'll tell Ginny that you thought a cat was going to kill you when you were drunk."

"Touché. And out of me and Ginny?"

"Well, I've already done the 'screwing' with you, as you so eloquently put it, so I might as well go the whole way," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'd marry you and screw Ginny."

Ron grinned at that. "Making your way through the whole family, are we?"

Her eyes sparkled like they did when she was being cheeky. "Tell George to watch out, he's next in line," Ron laughed at that. "Oh … er, Professor McGonagall, Harry or your Mum."

Ron screwed up his face at that. "Hermione, that's disgusting!"

She only shot him that cheeky look again, the one that made him wish he was with her as blood ran south and he felt his ears grow hot. _Oh, Hermione_. He closed his eyes, imagining Professor McGonagall as his 'screw' option which thankfully, helped his situation somewhat. "Uh … well, McGonagall would have a bit of experience, right?"

Hermione snorted with laughter, so loud that she immediately hoped that she hadn't accidentally woken up her dormitory mates. "You're not seriously suggesting that you'd pick Professor McGonagall as your 'screw' option?" she asked.

"Well, I'm not about to screw Harry or my Mum!"

"Fine, fine," she said. "Who'd you kill then?"

Ron thought for a moment. "Mum. She pisses me off half the time. And I'm sure Harry would make a good husband."

"You don't half talk nonsense sometimes, Ron."

"Ah, you know me," he said. "Right: Amelia the Animagus, Luna Lovegood or … oh I dunno, that bloke you like so much on that Muggle P.V. show you watch. The doctor one."

Hermione was surprised. "It's T.V., Ron. And I didn't think you even paid attention whenever I forced you to watch that." she said.

"You made me sit through four seasons. I think I picked up on a few things."

"Well all right," Hermione thought for a moment. "The Doctor, I'm afraid, doesn't do domestic, so I'd have to settle for just screwing him. Luna, lovely as she is, scares me to death half the time, so I'll have to kill her. Which leaves me marrying Amelia."

Ron grinned. "Makes sense, since you're both heroes."

"Ah, but you're forgetting that sometimes, even the sidekick can be the hero," she said. "Remember that one adventure we went on? We got sidetracked when you challenged me to a game of chess?"

"The one where you sat through three games of me thrashing you because you refused to admit I was better than you?"

Hermione glared. "Yeah, that one. Remember – we gave everyone we knew characters on the board! You were a knight."

"Oh, that's right!" Ron said. "And you were a Rook, right?"

"You said it was because I had very forward and backwards and sideways thinking."

"Well, that's not a bad thing! Why was I a knight again?"

Hermione snorted. "Because you insisted that you were brave."

"I'm a Gryffindor!"

"And yet, last time there was a spider in your room, you made _me_ get rid of it for you."

Ron sighed. "That's a _spider_, that's different! I might be brave, but I'm not _that_ brave! I wouldn't take on a spider for _anything_!"

"Typical." Hermione snorted.

"Oh, except for you, of course."

Hermione smiled. "Oh. Well, thanks."

Ron gave a satisfied grin at that. "Anyway. Your original point?"

"Oh yes – well, in the end you had to sacrifice your knight so you could win. So that just goes to show that even the sidekick can be the hero."

"You calling me a sidekick?"

"Well, I _am_ Amelia … and are married to her, apparently," she added, remembering their game and that it was her turn to come up with names. "Anyway! Right Ron, you've got myself, Amelia or Martin, the Mad Muggle. Choose carefully."

Ron thought. "Kill Martin, screw Amelia, marry you."

Hermione was startled at his fast answer. "Really?"

"Of course!" he said. "Lets face it: Martin's cool, but Amelia's hot, so it's a no-brainer, really. And who wouldn't want to marry you?"

Hermione outright laughed at that, causing Ginny to stir in the bed next to her. "Have I told you I love you recently?" she said.

"Nah."

"I love you."

Ron grinned. "I know."

* * *

><p>"It's ridiculous!" Hermione complained to a thoroughly amused Ron. "She doesn't really seem to care at all about the subject!"<p>

"Probably because she's only there temporarily."

"Even so …" Hermione huffed at the thought that her stupid Defence Against the Dark Arts professor would ever stay long-term. She was some Ministry witch who had quickly been appointed when they realised that after the year they'd just had, no one in their right minds would want to take the job. However, it was obvious that Professor Finch couldn't care less about the subject.

Ron sighed. "Hermione, you've got the perfect class! You don't have to do anything!"

"Well, that's not completely true," she said. "She knows a lot about magical creatures, since she works in that Department at the Ministry – that was the closest they could get to the subject. In fact, Ginny asked her a question about wolves yesterday and she rambled for a million years. Could rival you when you're on about Quidditch."

Ron decided to ignore the Quidditch jest, should they get into another argument. "Yesterday? Wasn't that a full moon?"

"I dunno, possibly …"

Ron clapped his hands together. "That's it! She's a werewolf!"

Hermione snorted. "Yeah right, my Defence Against the Dark Arts professor is a werewolf." she said, sarcastically.

"Well, has she ever been off sick?"

"She got the flu about a month ago … but other than that, no!"

"A month ago, that would've been a full moon too!"

"Oh and where is she supposed to go?" Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "Running rampart about the grounds, perhaps? I hear the Shrieking Shack is having an open home! Although," she thought. "The month before she got sick, she took a few days off because she had to go report back to the Ministry …"

"Exactly!"

"Oh my God, my Defence professor is a werewolf!"

* * *

><p>One night in mid-March, she fell asleep on him while he was rambling about a time when he and Harry went broomstick-window-shopping.<p>

When she woke up, he was playing with chess pieces.

"_I am the best, I am the King_!" he said in a rough voice, lying flat on his stomach in front of a chess board, holding a black King in one hand and a white pawn in the other.

"What in Merlin's name are you doing?" Hermione asked, yawning.

"Hermione!" Ron said cheerfully, realising she was awake. "I was making up an adventure! I always thought that Kings were the best. But pawns always find the need to prove themselves." Sure enough, the little black King in one hand was looking haughty and almighty while the white pawn seemed to be struggling to get free so he could throttle the King.

"Really?"

"Definitely!" Ron said, going back to his adventure. "_Welcome, you have reached this end of the chess board_." he said in his gruff, King-voice.

"Who else is here?" he added in a slightly higher-pitched voice, talking for the pawn.

"_A question I might ask you. Or are you acting alone_?"

"No, I've got back-up. There are pawns here on your side of the chess board tonight!"

"_Well, well, very good indeed. You found a way to get them through, did you_?"

"Yeah, right under your nose and you never realised!"

Ron tutted and made the King shake his head. "_Pawn, pawn, you are not a killer_."

"How do you know?" he continued talking for the pawn, who was glaring up at Ron, apparently not amused that he had been given the weaker role in this adventure. "You don't know what I'm capable of! You don't know what I've done!"

"Ron, you do realise that you're arguing with chess pieces, right?" Hermione cut in.

Ron shushed her. "Hermione! We're getting to the good part! See, the rest of the King's side are fighting the white's, who have infiltrated the board–" He gestured to a mash of other pieces on the chess board. "–they were the distraction while _this_ guy," He gestured with the pawn in his hand. "Could go through and finish the job! But … he _can't do it_!"

"Can't do it?" Hermione asked, amused.

Ron shook his head seriously. "We will destroy you!" he continued in his pawn-voice. "We will kill the King and take over the chessboard! Every witch, wizard, muggle, squib and mudblood will bow to us!"

"_Please do not use that offensive word in front of me_." he grumbled as the King.

Ron laughed. "You care about me saying 'mudblood' when I'm about to kill you?"

"_Yes I do, but as for being about to kill me, little pawn, you have had several minutes now. We are quite alone, I am more defenceless than you can have dreamed of finding me, and still you have not acted_."

"But I've got to do it!" The pawn said. "My King made me! I've got to do it, or he'll kill me!"

Hermione raised her eyebrows at that. Where he got his imagination from, she had no idea.

"And that's when the white pieces break through!" Ron cried, grabbing several more white pieces and making them burst through towards the King and pawn in his hands. "The King is surrounded! But still the little pawn won't do it … and at long last, a knight comes in!"

"Who's side is he on, then?" Hermione asked.

Ron looked at her seriously as he dropped the King and pawn. He held up both a white knight and a black knight. "No one knows," he said, ominously. "The white's think he's with them, the black's think the same. The question is: who is he _really_ with?"

"So what happens next?"

"The knight bursts in!" Ron made the knight storm forwards. "We've got a problem! The pawn doesn't seem to be able to do it!"

"_Oh, black knight_!" he cut in with his King voice, only now instead of sounding gruff, the King sounded desperate. "The knight does not answer …" Ron muttered, the knight still moving forward.

"_Black knight, please_!" The King said again.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Hermione almost cut off their connection in shock as Ron suddenly yelled out the killing curse. The knight, having apparently killed the King, ran off while the King was thrown back by Ron's arm, along with a drawn-out, "Aaaaaaah!"

Hermione just stared at the scenario Ron had just played out. "So the knight betrayed the King?"

"Possibly," Ron said, sitting up with a groan and collecting up all the players he'd knocked over in his enthusiasm in yelling the killing curse. "He could actually be on the good side and this was all a huge double-crossing for the white pieces. Maybe the black King _wanted_ the knight to kill him. Who knows?"

"You know, I think I might just love you a little bit more now."

"Yeah?" Ron grinned. "Love you, too."

* * *

><p>"Ron?"<p>

"What the he–? Hermione?"

"Yes! I just figured something out! If I write half an essay every day this week, then I'll have three and a half essays done. And since I've got several books I have to read, if I do the essays during the day and the books at night, then by the end of the week, I'll have done almost everything I need to for that week! Granted, I'll never be able to go to sleep … or eat … or talk to you … or breathe … but I'll be on top of my NEWTs!"

"You seriously just called me at work to tell me that?"

"Yes!"

"… you're amazing."

* * *

><p>Once, he fell asleep on her, so heavily that she could've sworn he'd been poisoned or something. She was just about to cut off their mirrors and get some sleep as well, when she heard him mutter,<p>

"Er-my-nee …"

and she thought she might just stay up a bit longer.

* * *

><p>Sometimes, when Ron sat there in his room in front of his mirror with Hermione on the other side, he wondered how the hell two mirrors managed to keep them together. He remembered several conversations at three in the morning, a couple hundred more when he'd gone out with his brothers or with Harry and treated Hermione to a drunken-rendition of <em>A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love<em> and even one incredibly awkward naked-mirror call.

But when he thought it, with him on one end, her on the other and nothing, not even distance keeping them apart, he had to admit …

… it felt a little like, well, _magic_.

* * *

><p>AN: I probably won't sound all that coherent in this AN since i saw HPDH part 2 and was gobsmacked. Yes, i walked out of that movie theatre at two in the morning on the 14th July, absolutely shattered, but completely thrilled. I dressed up as Luna Lovegood, my sister was Ginny, my Mum was Ron and my Dad was Harry. I cried, i laughed, i screamed and cheered.

So basically, my life has no meaning anymore because Harry Potter is now over. But i've still got _Adventures_.

Plus, was i the only person to absolutely _love_ those little laughs Ron and Hermione gave after they kissed in the movie? Everyone i talked to thought they shouldn't have changed it! And while i do wish Harry had been there to see it, i thought it was brilliant. The entire movie theatre i was in actually screamed when they kissed. I am not joking.

Back to the actual story, i'm guessing the main characters who died during the series still died in my little AU, like Sirius. So Harry still would've smashed the mirror, only maybe not quite so intensely so that's how they could find all the pieces and put it back together again.

On a side note, 'Kill, Screw, Marry' is a game myself and several of my friends have played before. It is extremely fun!

I felt like their long-distance relationship needed showing, so here is part four. Next is the last part. I hope you all enjoyed this!

Your reviews have been brilliant, so thanks so much! I'm sure you'll have something to say.

So ends a ridiculously long AN. Until next time-

-Moon. : D


	5. Adventure of a lifetime

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Ron, Hermione or adventures. I don't even own the format or the plot. Basically, i own nothing.

* * *

><p>Adventures.<p>

Blurb …

Every weekend they would go on an adventure. "The mer-people have stolen the most important thing in the world to you. What did they take?" "… you?" :RHr takes place during an AU postDH:

**Note:** This story takes place in an AU after the end of the war. _Ron never met Hermione and Harry on that first day_ for Hogwarts and was never friends with them. Voldemort took over, but Harry and Hermione never went through the crazy adventures they went on in the books. There was a final battle, but no Horcruxes to destroy, Philosopher's Stone to save, Basilisk to fight, Time-travel, Triwizard Tournament, Battle at the Ministry, or getting the locket. Just Voldemort to kill. All in all, a rather boring version of HP that takes a while.

This takes place the summer after the war ended.

* * *

><p><em>Part Five: Adventure of a lifetime.<em>

Pretty soon, the month turned to April and Hermione found that only one thing was spoken of in Hogwarts' corridors: the Battle Anniversary.

"Honestly, it's all anyone talks about!" Hermione said one evening to Ron, Ginny leaning over her shoulder as they sat in the common room. They were talking to Harry and Ron at the Burrow on the other end, sharing adventures of the past couple of weeks. Hermione pretended she didn't know anything, but it was obvious the way Harry and Ginny were looking at each other. She hadn't had a chance to ask Ron if he had noticed anything yet, but knowing him, it was unlikely.

"It's a big event, Hermione," Harry said, slightly darkly as he always did when the anniversary was mentioned. "Shacklebolt's asked me if I'll do a speech."

"… that's good?" Hermione practically asked, since he didn't look all that happy about it.

Harry shrugged. "I really just want to forget about it. I'm considering not going at all."

"But you have to!" Ginny said, leaning over so her face was more in the mirror. Hermione rolled her eyes and handed it over. "You gave everyone hope during the battle, Harry. Because you were there, we could get through it. I don't know about others, but I know with us …" Ginny exchanged a look with her brother. "We don't particularly want to remember either. But having you there will make us believe we can get through it."

Harry was silent for a moment as Hermione stared at the girl next to her. Then amazingly, Harry smiled – something he hadn't done in a long time. "Can't let you down in that case, Ginny," he said as Ginny grinned back. "I'll be there for you."

Hermione smiled slightly at the looks on both their faces. Finally, the tension of the conversation was cut as Harry moved on to brighter topics. "Anyway," he said. "It's Teddy's birthday next week! Can't _believe_ he's going to be one year old."

"Has it seriously been a whole year?" Hermione mused.

"Yeah, Andromeda's been going on about it for the past month," Ron said, rolling his eyes. He had told her during one of their late-night conversations about how he had been helping Harry look after little Teddy a lot since they had been apart. "Says _everyone_ has to be there to celebrate. Remus and Tonks wouldn't want anything less."

They all smiled sadly at that, but moved on. "So, what d'you say?" Harry asked. "You two reckon you can make it down for his birthday?"

Hermione and Ginny exchanged looks. "Oh, I don't know …" Hermione said back. "I mean, I've got loads of work to do and exams are coming up soon!"

"I've got several assignments due next week." Ginny agreed, sadly.

"Aw, c'mon," Ron urged. "Do it for Teddy! Hermione, you know he'd want you there. That kid loves you."

"And you have to come as well, Ginny!" Harry insisted. "Your Mum and Dad are coming, most of your brothers, Andromeda wants you all there."

Hermione smiled but didn't answer. She knew the real reason Ron wanted her to come – however, she hadn't counted on Harry wanting Ginny for the exact same reason.

* * *

><p>"… <em>please<em>, Hermione?" Ron practically whined later that night (and by night, she meant two o'clock in the morning). "Andromeda really wants you there."

Hermione gave him a look. "Ron, I know perfectly well that the only reason you want me to come is so you can see me."

Ron shrugged. "Ok, your point? I miss you! I haven't seen you in person since winter!"

"_Ron_ …" Hermione sighed. "You know I would _love_ to come, I honestly would, but I just don't have the time. If I go, I won't get any work done and if I want to get my NEWTs, I really do need to pass. Besides, you're going to be seeing me at the Battle Anniversary anyway, that's only a couple of weeks away."

Ron sighed. "But the Battle Anniversary is different," he said. "That's a day for Fred and Remus and Tonks and everyone else who died. It won't just be a time where we can be together and spend the entire weekend just curled up on your sofa watching Muggle pellyvision shows."

"It's _television_, Ron," Hermione corrected, though why she bothered, she'd never know. "And you _know_ I would love that!"

"Obviously not enough to actually come and do it …" Ron grumbled, not looking at her. Hermione wanted to shake the mirror, as if that would compensate for her not being there to smack him herself.

"Oh, _Ron_," she said, exasperatedly. "I honestly want to come. I just can't. Please, can you just understand that?"

Ron sighed. "Of course I understand, Hermione," he said, a sad smile on his face. "I s'pose I'll just have to wait until I get to see you again."

"Just imagine what'll happen when you do."

"Merlin, don't say _that_!" Ron groaned and Hermione grinned. "Great, now I've got all these images in my head … thanks a bloody lot, _they're_ not going to go away any time soon …"

"But you're thinking about me, right?"

Ron shot her a look. "Not exactly in a Teddy-friendly way, but yes. Come home?"

Hermione smiled and ignored the plea. "Then my work is done."

"You're evil."

"Oh, you know I'm the hero."

"Sometimes I wonder. Although, Amelia _has_ gone to the dark side a few times …"

"Ewan always managed to save her though." Hermione pointed out.

"Ah, issue number fourteen," Ron sighed and Hermione felt a little bit of pride in knowing that thanks to her, he now knew what happened in every single issue to date. "Reckon those two'll get together in the end?"

"Oh, it's completely obvious," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "Ewan and Amelia! No one more perfect for each other. Brilliant partners."

"Kind of like us, then? Please come home?"

Hermione gave another smile at that. "You know I can't! But yes, I suppose so," she answered. They were silent for a few moments as Hermione let her gaze wander around her dormitory and Ron watched her. Her eyes landed on the small, curled up ball that was Ginny in the bed next to hers and she suddenly found something else to say. "So has Harry said anything at all about Ginny yet?"

"What?" Ron looked confused. "Ginny?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes, Ginny! Your sister? The one who fell into a barrel of ice-cream when she first met Harry?"

"What, are you saying they fancy each other?" Ron asked, looking gob-smacked.

Hermione snorted. "Of course! It's plainly obvious, you're not telling me you didn't have a clue?"

Ron shrugged. "She's my sister! We don't really, y'know, talk about that sort of thing. It's weird. I mean also, I'm with you and you're more or less a sister to him, so …"

Hermione sighed. "Blokes. You can be very dense sometimes."

"Come back for Teddy's birthday and you can teach me how not to be dense …?"

"Oh, come on," Hermione hissed, since she didn't want to wake up her entire dormitory by screaming. "Look, I think you should talk to Harry, even though Ginny's your sister, because they both deserve a bit of happiness. Harry hasn't had a girlfriend since the whole Cho Chang fiasco, so …"

"What, Cho Chang?" Ron repeated, apparently forgetting the rest of her statement. "That girl who went out with Cedric Diggory? Poor bloke …" he added upon remembering how he had been killed by Voldemort himself during the course of their Forth Year. His had apparently been one of the first after Voldemort came back.

Hermione snorted."Yes, her. And that ended rather badly. So if anyone deserves someone as brilliant as Ginny, it's Harry."

"Blimey," Ron said. "My sister? Really?"

"I'm pretty sure. And I'm usually right about these things."

"You know, you _really _should come back home and teach me the ways of women …"

"That'd take a while."

"Oi!"

Hermione laughed, wincing when she heard Ginny rolled over. "It's getting pretty late Ron, I should go to bed. But talk to Harry, yeah?"

Ron sighed. "Yeah, I will. Can't imagine anyone better for my baby sister, though if I got my way, she wouldn't be going out with anyone at all."

Hermione smiled. "They'd be perfect together and you know it. Just like Ewan and Amelia, yeah?"

He smiled back. "Yeah. G'night, Hermione."

"Night. Love you."

"Love you too – but only if you come to Teddy's party!" he quickly added.

Hermione felt like slapping him. "_Ron_!"

* * *

><p>The party was brilliant. Ron didn't know how much point there was to it, considering little Teddy himself would probably not remember any of it once he grew up, but the photos were at least something to go by. Andromeda was happy, which was all Harry wanted for his Godson and Teddy loved all the attention.<p>

Ron however, couldn't find it in him to enjoy himself. Teddy had asked on more than one occasion for Hermione (or in Teddy's terms, 'Hermymy') which only drew attention to the fact that she wasn't there.

Ron couldn't believe how much he missed her. Sometimes, the mirrors were only that. Mirrors.

Considering his dodgy-at-best Apparition skills, Ron decided he would simply walk home after getting George to drop him off halfway. George was the perfect brother to do this, since he still didn't want to talk all that much and considering the Anniversary coming up soon, he was speaking less and less. Ron didn't really feel much like talking to anyone at that point, so George had dropped him off a little outside the village near the Burrow.

Ron had wanted the walk and George was apparently staying somewhere else (he knew it wasn't the flat over the shop, so quite frankly, he had no idea where, though he thought a girl might have something to do with it – he'd been spending a lot of time with that Angelina Johnson), so Ron walked alone down the drive, the Burrow in the distance.

It was only when he had climbed over the stone wall into his back garden, clutching his piece of leftover cake, when he caught sight of the back door to the kitchen and noticed something rather different.

Hermione was sat on the welcome mat in front of the back door.

_Hermione_.

He remembered running and vaguely dropping his cake, but he didn't even care about the food. He had yelled, "HERMIONE!" before he'd even realised it.

Hermione's head snapped up and she grinned. "Ron!" she cried, struggling to get to her feet. However, Ron got there first, grabbing her outstretched hands and hauling her upright and into his arms in a single movement.

"What the _hell_'re you doing here?" he yelled, holding onto her as tightly as he could, spinning her around a few times for good measure as Hermione gave a surprised yelp as her feet left the ground.

"I was _supposed_ to be here for Teddy's birthday party!" she cried once Ron had stopped spinning her, though he refused to let her back down. "But Ginny broke her ankle playing Quidditch, so I had to stay and take her to the Hospital Wing and by the time I got into Hogsmede, I had missed the Portkey I was going to take since I don't like Apparating such long distances, so I had to call the Knight Bus which of course went all the way around England before it would bring me here, I swear I ended up in France at one point! But it was getting so late and I knew I had missed the party and I know Teddy is probably really upset with me and I knew you would be sad, but I really wanted to surprise you and I came here and no one was _here_ and–"

"HERMIONE!" Ron had to yell as Hermione was yet to take a breath. He set her down and pulled away slightly so he could look at her. "Honestly, there _is_ such thing as short-distance Apparition! Much quicker and not so difficult! I mean, I know _I'm_ shit at it, but …"

"Short … short-term …" Hermione muttered, eyes almost bloodshot. "Of _course_ …"

"Bloody hell, Hermione!" Ron was almost laughing. "Are you a witch or not?"

"I don't _believe_ this!" Hermione cried, hiding her face in his chest in what he guessed was embarrassment. "All this time on the Knight Bus and I could have been there in an instant!"

"Well, in a few instances and you'd probably be a bit nauseous, but still …"

"Oh my God, I'm sorry!"

"Hermione, it's fine!" Ron said, laughing out loud now. "You came all this way just to surprise me?"

Hermione gave a shy smile. "Well and Teddy, I suppose … but yeah, mainly for you."

"Hermione, even _that_ is just bloody brilliant." Ron told her, leaning down to kiss her firmly. He hadn't felt those lips since December and he felt like he really should be reminding her of his. Hermione made a humming, contented noise before pulling away.

"I can't believe how _stupid_ I am, though!" Hermione said before he could protest. "I'm supposed to be the clever one. I went out of my way to get here for you – I even wore a dress!"

"… what?" Ron said distractedly, his thoughts completely on dragging Hermione up to his bedroom. He glanced down at her and noticed what she was actually wearing for the first time. It was a pretty lilac-coloured dress underneath her jacket and while it was obviously something Ginny had picked out for her, Hermione looked completely comfortable in it, something he couldn't say about any other time he'd seen her forced into a dress.

"Blimey …" Ron muttered. "You look great!"

Hermione smiled. "Always the tone of surprise."

* * *

><p>"… er, Ron?" Hermione asked, slightly breathless and leaning on the Burrow's kitchen table, which ten seconds ago, Ron had been snogging her rather intensely against. "Shouldn't we be taking this … I don't know, <em>upstairs<em>?"

"Ah Hermione," Ron said, currently rummaging through the pantry. "We are making a proper date out of this!"

"You're not serious?"

"I'm completely serious!" Ron said, turning around and showing that he had collected an assortment of food. "I'm making us food and since you have that lovely dress on …" Ron searched his pockets for a few moments before pulling out his wand and jabbing it in the general direction of the wireless in the corner of the kitchen. The song that belted out was Celestina Warbeck's _A Cauldron-full of Hot, Strong Love_.

"Ron …" Hermione began.

Ron sighed. "Ok yeah, the song's not that brilliant … but Hermione, you're a _girl_!"

Hermione stared at him for a few seconds before saying, "Oh, well spotted."

Ron rolled his eyes. "No, I mean you should love dancing!" he said. "Girls like to dance, right? I admit, I'm not that great, but still …" He abandoned the food on the table before grabbing her hands and suddenly twirling her around the kitchen, making her shriek in surprise.

"Ron!"

She soon stopped complaining, however as they continued to dance around the kitchen, occasionally pausing to grab a biscuit before they were off again. Ron still couldn't believe she was actually _here_ and he gripped her waist tighter to remind himself. He knew what he called his 'moves' wasn't exactly dancing, but Hermione seemed to be enjoying herself, despite that all they did was swing around and sway to the music.

"I love you …" Ron muttered against her hair, a little while later.

Hermione paused to give him a mischievous smile. God, he missed that. "Then _please_ explain to me why we are still dancing in your kitchen? Not that I don't love this, but I was sort of hoping we could get into more … _physical_ acts, once I got here."

"I just wanted us to be together for a bit," Ron said, grinning as he shrugged. "Haven't been able to do the date thing for a while."

Hermione smiled at him. "I wanted us to be together as well."

Ron gave a mock gasp. "What _will_ you tell Teddy when you say that wanting to go to his birthday was just a ruse so you could come see me?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "That I _love_ you." she said, simply.

Well. It had been so long since he'd heard _that_ in person. He threw himself at her.

They weren't exactly _graceful_ ascending the many stairs to Ron's room; however they were so caught up in each other that neither could really bring themselves to care. Ron ended up chasing her up the last two flights, slamming her against his bedroom door and kissing her fiercely before she could completely get away. Hopefully, his mother would see his jumper and t-shirt thrown about in the kitchen and just put it down to her son being typically messy.

"Would–" Ron cut Hermione off with another kiss as he reached around her and yanked the door open. They stumbled into his room, Ron tugging on Hermione's jacket until she got the message and pulled it off as Ron slammed the door shut behind them. "–would you rather be attacked by floating brains or by Death Eaters?"

Ron actually laughed, moving forward again so he could bury his face into her neck as her hands went to the waistband of his jeans. "Seriously?" he asked before kissing the skin at her neck and shoulder and trailing his hands up her arms. "How the hell d'you come up with this stuff?"

"Oh, you know me," Her hands moved lower. "Vivid imagination."

"I-I don't – _Hermione!_ – I … I'd have to say brains …" Ron muttered, completely distracted.

"Why's that?"

"I dunno, seems cooler than Death Eaters," Ron kissed her again, making for the zip of her dress to get the thing _off_ her. He finally found it and nearly ripped the fabric in his enthusiasm. "You?"

"Oh, Death Eaters," Hermione answered, kicking the dress somewhere across the room. "They'll kill me faster."

Ron snorted at that and their mouths were rather occupied for the next few moments, Ron taking advantage of her bare skin and letting his hands wander wherever they could, before he thought of something else. "… mmpft – Hermione?" he managed to get out.

"Yeah?"

"You're still my Amelia, right?" he asked her. His room was dark, but he could still see the fond expression on her face.

"Of course," she said. "… and you'll still go on adventures with me, right?"

"Hermione, I think tonight will be our greatest adventure yet!" Ron said and she made a surprised sound as he picked her up and practically threw her onto his bed. They landed together, causing her to let out a yelp before laughing.

"Oh, really?" she asked, eyes sparkling.

Ron grinned back. "Prove me wrong."

-Fin.

* * *

><p>AN: Final part! I'm actually rather sad that this is the end, but this was the story i wanted to tell and show that the two will always be together. I hope you all enjoyed this.

(And yes, it's of my belief that Ginny totally went to see Harry after her ankle got fixed while Hermione went to see Ron ... ooh, i might have to actually write that ...)

Thank you so much for your support and your reviews. You've all been amazing.

Until next time-

-Moon. : D


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